MML Investors Services LLC Cuts Stock Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

MML Investors Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 46,409 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 4,753 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC's holdings in Waste Connections were worth $7,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Waste Connections by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after purchasing an additional 174,121 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,481,041,000 after buying an additional 356,798 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its position in Waste Connections by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after buying an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,020,672,000 after buying an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth about $687,935,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on WCN shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Waste Connections from $218.00 to $209.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. William Blair assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $221.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Waste Connections stock traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $193.68. 355,800 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 972,941. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $191.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.09. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.34 and a 52-week high of $201.66. The company has a market cap of $50.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.91, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. Waste Connections's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is 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.