Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Makes New Investment in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. acquired a new position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $806,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WCN. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.87.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

WCN traded down $1.00 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $165.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,608,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 913,076. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $126.12 and a 1 year high of $173.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $42.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50-day moving average of $168.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $151.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 38.51%.

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.