Analysts Set Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Target Price at $176.81

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $176.81.

WCN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st.

Waste Connections Price Performance

NYSE:WCN opened at $168.01 on Friday. Waste Connections has a 52 week low of $126.12 and a 52 week high of $173.02. The firm has a market cap of $43.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.03. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 38.51%.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 220,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,895,000 after acquiring an additional 74,995 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 214,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,787,000 after buying an additional 10,179 shares during the last quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 42.1% during the third quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC now owns 51,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,930,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 86.2% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 184,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,388,000 after purchasing an additional 85,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 3.1% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,002,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $269,603,000 after purchasing an additional 59,361 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

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.