Waverly Advisors LLC Makes New $289,000 Investment in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,684 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 356,798 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after buying an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $984,214,000 after buying an additional 150,683 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WCN shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $221.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $212.23.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN traded down $1.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $194.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 402,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,002,920. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $50.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50-day moving average of $193.95 and a 200-day moving average of $187.22. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.34 and a 12 month high of $205.50.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The company's revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.85%.

Waste Connections 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.