Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Receives $198.40 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $199.88.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WCN shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Eight Capital raised Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. CIBC boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Versor Investments LP lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 75.1% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 3,527 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at about $552,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at about $2,503,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 65.6% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202 shares during the period. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 11.0% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 65,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,408,000 after acquiring an additional 6,432 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $179.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Connections has a one year low of $144.69 and a one year high of $194.83.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.62%.

Waste Connections Company 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.