New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $34.36 Million Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 230,203 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 15,857 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.09% of Waste Connections worth $34,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 20.5% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,516,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,302 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 57.7% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,500,718 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $522,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,418 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 35.0% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,436,123 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $319,336,000 after purchasing an additional 631,724 shares in the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 35.8% during the third quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 2,057,127 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $276,272,000 after purchasing an additional 542,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 32.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,840,307 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $261,054,000 after purchasing an additional 454,508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN traded down $1.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $163.53. 1,086,551 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 915,341. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.09, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66. The business's fifty day moving average is $168.22 and its 200-day moving average is $152.10. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $126.12 and a one year high of $173.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.76% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WCN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Atb Cap Markets lowered Waste Connections from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group lowered Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $179.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

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.