Waste Connections (TSE:WCN) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$272.96 and last traded at C$273.09, with a volume of 86562 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$271.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Eight Capital set a C$270.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, ATB Capital boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from C$255.00 to C$260.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$205.10.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 100.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$250.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$243.90. The company has a market capitalization of C$70.02 billion, a PE ratio of 60.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.426 per share. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of ∞. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 34.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Connections news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$249.52, for a total transaction of C$1,996,164.00. Also, Senior Officer Robert Andres Nielsen sold 571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$252.28, for a total transaction of C$144,051.88. Insiders sold a total of 9,571 shares of company stock worth $2,400,841 over the last ninety days. 0.21% 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.