Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 4,047,250 Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,047,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $755,938,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.57% of Waste Connections as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Connections in the second quarter valued at $39,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter valued at about $51,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the second quarter worth about $70,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 83.3% in the second quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 396 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Connections during the first quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Connections

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

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $176.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.17. The company has a market cap of $45.17 billion, a PE ratio of 73.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.60. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.27 and a 12-month high of $201.66.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is 58.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Waste Connections from $221.00 to $218.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Raymond James Financial set a $213.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, National Bankshares dropped their price target on Waste Connections from $211.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $208.32.

Waste Connections 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.