Waste Connections (TSE:WCN) Hits New 1-Year High at $234.79

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$234.79 and last traded at C$232.79, with a volume of 46051 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$233.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on WCN. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from C$169.00 to C$182.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from C$156.00 to C$167.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. ATB Capital downgraded shares of Waste Connections from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from C$200.00 to C$235.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Waste Connections from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from C$141.00 to C$146.50 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Waste Connections has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$192.10.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.1 %

The company's fifty day moving average price is C$220.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$199.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 91.42. The company has a market cap of C$60.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Connections (TSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported C$1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of C$1.47 by C$0.04. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 10.30% and a net margin of 9.51%. The firm had revenue of C$2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of C$2.76 billion. Research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 8.8651858 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.383 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections's payout ratio is 38.89%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer James M. Little sold 6,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$168.64, for a total value of C$1,011,840.00. In other Waste Connections news, Senior Officer James M. Little sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$168.64, for a total value of C$1,011,840.00. Also, Senior Officer Matthew Stephen Black sold 4,128 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$167.34, for a total transaction of C$690,760.94. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,026 shares of company stock valued at $3,043,157. Company insiders own 0.28% 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.

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