Natixis Advisors LLC Has $36.08 Million Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. by 4.6% during the first quarter, owning 184,844 shares valued at $36,080,000.
• Waste Connections reported a quarterly revenue increase of 7.1% year-over-year, achieving $2.41 billion, and beat earnings expectations with $1.29 earnings per share.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.315 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.7%, to be paid on August 21st.

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 184,844 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 9,014 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.07% of Waste Connections worth $36,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 136.2% in the 1st quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 41.2% in the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 37,052 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,814 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 39.6% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 20,271 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,957,000 after purchasing an additional 5,746 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in Waste Connections in the 1st quarter valued at about $678,000. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 331,088 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $63,841,000 after purchasing an additional 30,136 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $204.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $224.00 to $211.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $202.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded 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, eleven have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE:WCN traded down $0.03 on Friday, hitting $186.64. 1,129,567 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,365,086. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.36 and a 1 year high of $201.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $187.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.92. The company has a market cap of $48.23 billion, a PE ratio of 75.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be issued a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 6th. Waste Connections's payout ratio is 50.81%.

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.