Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Receives Average Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and four have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $212.29.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WCN. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Melius started coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Monday, June 9th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Connections

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,247,244 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,901,049,000 after acquiring an additional 954,242 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Waste Connections by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,481,041,000 after acquiring an additional 356,798 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its position in Waste Connections by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its position in Waste Connections by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,383,780 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,230,984,000 after acquiring an additional 18,400 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of WCN stock opened at $185.96 on Friday. Waste Connections has a 1 year low of $169.36 and a 1 year high of $201.66. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $192.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 15.74%. Waste Connections's revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were given a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.85%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.