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

Key Points

• Waste Connections, Inc. has received an average rating of "Buy" from 21 brokerages, with five analysts rating it as a strong buy.
• The company's latest quarterly earnings exceeded analyst expectations, reporting $1.29 EPS against a consensus estimate of $1.25 EPS.
• Waste Connections recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.315 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.7%.

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Buy" from the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $213.7857.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WCN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $221.00 to $219.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $221.00 price objective on the stock. Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Waste Connections from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. CIBC restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Waste Connections from $204.00 to $199.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Connections

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 4.6% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. MWA Asset Management raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 1.2% in the first quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 4,783 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Tranquility Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 4,354 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $850,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,116 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

WCN stock opened at $174.15 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $44.69 billion, a PE ratio of 70.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $180.93 and a 200-day moving average of $187.19. Waste Connections has a 12-month low of $169.36 and a 12-month high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 6.97%.Waste Connections's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 6th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.81%.

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.

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