Red Spruce Capital LLC Has $878,000 Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Red Spruce Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 257 shares during the period. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. West Oak Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the first quarter worth $28,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Waste Connections in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its position in Waste Connections by 172.2% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 294 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 8,800.0% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 356 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 433 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WCN. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $153.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $165.00 to $163.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Sunday, August 20th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, CIBC upped their price target on Waste Connections from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP James Little sold 3,200 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.97, for a total transaction of $441,504.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 26,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,616,193.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE WCN traded up $0.29 during trading on Thursday, hitting $142.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 290,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,627. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $124.23 and a 52 week high of $147.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $36.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $140.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.80.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.01. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.93% and a return on equity of 14.01%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 16th were paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 15th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 31.38%.

Waste Connections 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.