Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Acquires 390 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $13,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after acquiring an additional 174,121 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted 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 valued at $1,481,041,000 after purchasing an additional 356,798 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its stake in Waste Connections by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $984,214,000 after purchasing an additional 150,683 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $221.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, April 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.23.

Waste Connections Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:WCN opened at $190.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $165.20 and a one year high of $201.66. The company has a market cap of $49.14 billion, a PE ratio of 79.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $193.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.59.

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

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.85%.

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.