Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $25.77 Million Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 40.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 172,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 49,961 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $25,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of Waste Connections 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 through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $162.08 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $167.95 and a 200-day moving average of $152.72. The company has a market cap of $41.82 billion, a PE ratio of 52.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $126.12 and a 1-year high of $173.02.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. 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 prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WCN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective 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, UBS Group cut shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.33.

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.