Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 74,576 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 804 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $11,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new position in Waste Connections during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections during the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WCN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Waste Connections from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.33.

Waste Connections Price Performance

WCN traded down $1.70 on Friday, reaching $163.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,086,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,367. The company has a fifty day moving average of $168.22 and a 200-day moving average of $152.20. The company has a market capitalization of $42.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.08, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $126.12 and a one year high of $173.02.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.66%. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.01%.

Insider Activity

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

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.