William Blair Investment Management LLC Makes New $63.39 Million Investment in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management LLC has made a new investment of approximately $63.39 million in Waste Connections, acquiring 339,466 shares during the second quarter.
• Major hedge funds have increased their stakes in Waste Connections, with 86.09% of the company's stock now owned by institutional investors.
• Waste Connections reported earnings of $1.29 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.315 per share.

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 339,466 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $63,385,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.13% of Waste Connections at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mattson Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 11,787 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,201,000 after buying an additional 2,312 shares during the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 4,088 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,501,719 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,208,669,000 after buying an additional 117,939 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 674.6% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 502,675 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $93,710,000 after buying an additional 437,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tuttle Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tuttle Capital Management LLC now owns 3,606 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Waste Connections from $221.00 to $219.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $221.00 price objective on the stock. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on Waste Connections from $211.00 to $196.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Raymond James Financial set a $213.00 price objective on Waste Connections and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Waste Connections from $210.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $210.38.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN opened at $172.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $44.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.63, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.62. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $169.36 and a one year high of $201.66. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $178.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.87.

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

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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