Washington Trust Bank Lowers Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Washington Trust Bank lessened its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 13.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,104 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,084 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Bank's holdings in Waste Connections were worth $2,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Waste Connections by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,025,836,000 after purchasing an additional 174,121 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Waste Connections by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,481,041,000 after purchasing an additional 356,798 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its position in Waste Connections by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in Waste Connections by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,383,780 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,230,984,000 after purchasing an additional 18,400 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Waste Connections by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WCN. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $212.29.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of WCN traded up $1.56 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $182.29. 1,632,197 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,013,412. The company's fifty day moving average price is $191.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.56. The company has a market capitalization of $47.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.36 and a 12 month high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 15.74%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.85%.

About Waste Connections

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.