Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,607 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $986,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have weighed in on WCN. Citigroup upped their target price on Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. CIBC upped their target price on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $179.33.
View Our Latest Analysis on WCN
Waste Connections Trading Down 1.0 %
Shares of WCN stock traded down $1.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $163.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,086,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,367. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $126.12 and a one year high of $173.02. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $168.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.
Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.
Waste Connections Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's payout ratio is presently 37.01%.
Insider Activity
In other news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the firm'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 value of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
About Waste Connections
(
Free Report)
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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