Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN Shares Sold by Findlay Park Partners LLP

Findlay Park Partners LLP reduced its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 734,958 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 276,500 shares during the quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP owned about 0.28% of Waste Connections worth $137,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WCN. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,500,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 4.8% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 328,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,325,000 after acquiring an additional 14,898 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Waste Connections by 18,576.5% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 3,158 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. increased its stake in Waste Connections by 11.4% in the second quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 50,112 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 5,117 shares during the period. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 7.4% during the second quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.44, for a total value of $1,569,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 14,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,596,190.52. This represents a 37.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WCN. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Raymond James Financial set a $213.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $208.32.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Waste Connections stock opened at $176.95 on Thursday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.27 and a fifty-two week high of $201.66. The company has a market capitalization of $45.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.73, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $172.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 16.07%. Waste Connections’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.33%.

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.