Waste Connections, Inc. (WCN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.29 on May 23rd

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of 0.285 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th.

Waste Connections has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 7 consecutive years. Waste Connections has a dividend payout ratio of 20.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Waste Connections to earn $5.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.7%.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.6 %

WCN opened at $165.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $168.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.92. Waste Connections has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $173.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.63, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.76%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WCN shares. Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Waste Connections from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.