Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Shares Sold by DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main reduced its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 544,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 14,213 shares during the quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main owned about 0.21% of Waste Connections worth $93,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Waste Connections by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,041,000 after buying an additional 356,798 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,231,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269,652 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after acquiring an additional 899,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $984,214,000 after acquiring an additional 150,683 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WCN shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. William Blair started coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.21.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $198.41 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $192.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.34 and a 12 month high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. Waste Connections’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.85%.

Waste Connections Company Profile

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.