Voya Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. by 3.2% in Q1, now holding a total of 82,653 shares worth approximately $16.13 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Vanguard Group Inc., have increased their stakes significantly, indicating strong institutional support for Waste Connections.
• Waste Connections reported earnings of $1.29 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, along with a 7.1% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,653 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,696 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in Waste Connections were worth $16,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the first quarter worth approximately $623,155,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Waste Connections by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,247,244 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,901,049,000 after buying an additional 954,242 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 19,519.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918,564 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $179,295,000 after purchasing an additional 913,882 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 195.0% in the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,153,530 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $224,961,000 after purchasing an additional 762,468 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 45.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,621,661 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $316,532,000 after buying an additional 502,986 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WCN. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Melius initiated coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Monday, June 9th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. CIBC reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, July 25th. National Bank Financial raised Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $213.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, June 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Waste Connections Price Performance

WCN stock opened at $175.71 on Tuesday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.36 and a 52-week high of $201.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.66. The company has a market capitalization of $45.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.04. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 15.72%. The company had revenue of $2.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. Waste Connections's revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.81%.

Waste Connections Company Profile

Waste Connections, Inc provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, disposal, and resource recovery services in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) customers; landfill disposal services; and recycling services for various recyclable materials, including compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and ferrous and aluminum metals.

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