Washington Trust Bank Decreases Stock Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,481,041,000 after acquiring an additional 356,798 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,231,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 0.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 18,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after acquiring an additional 899,058 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WCN shares. Citigroup upped their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $221.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Melius Research upgraded Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $213.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Melius began coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Monday, June 9th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $213.93.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE WCN traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $182.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,336,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,019,202. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $190.29 and a 200 day moving average of $187.53. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.36 and a 1-year high of $201.66.

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

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 51.85%.

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.