Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Cuts Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 0.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,696 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $4,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Versor Investments LP grew its stake in Waste Connections by 75.1% during the 3rd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 317,220 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $54,565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,106 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 65,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,408,000 after purchasing an additional 6,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 1st quarter worth $1,319,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on WCN shares. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Eight Capital upgraded Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.56.

Waste Connections Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of WCN stock opened at $183.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $180.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.55. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.33 and a twelve month high of $188.30.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Waste Connections’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.62%.

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.