Nuveen Asset Management LLC Has $306.97 Million Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,789,074 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 260,066 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.69% of Waste Connections worth $306,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC increased its position in Waste Connections by 34.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 303,040 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $54,190,000 after purchasing an additional 77,466 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,036,856 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $349,483,000 after purchasing an additional 109,701 shares during the last quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department acquired a new position in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth approximately $353,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth approximately $316,000. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth approximately $370,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WCN. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup increased 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. Finally, Truist Financial set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.21.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN traded up $0.97 on Friday, hitting $191.94. The stock had a trading volume of 1,286,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 993,355. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $192.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.34 and a twelve month high of $201.66. The company has a market capitalization of $49.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. 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.