BMO Capital Markets Boosts Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Price Target to $186.00

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) had its target price lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $182.00 to $186.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Atb Cap Markets lowered Waste Connections from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. UBS Group lowered shares of Waste Connections from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $181.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Connections from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $179.33.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $163.48 on Friday. Waste Connections has a 1-year low of $126.12 and a 1-year high of $173.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $168.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.18 billion, a PE ratio of 53.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Waste Connections will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.01%.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In related news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Connections

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 20.5% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,516,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,302 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,715,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $856,641,000 after purchasing an additional 509,929 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 43.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,364,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $651,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320,933 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,104,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $612,605,000 after purchasing an additional 280,275 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $592,392,000. 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.