Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 66,895 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 72.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 158,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,895 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Waste Connections were worth $27,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WCN. Manchester Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 153.3% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 59.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on WCN. CIBC lowered their price target on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $189.35 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $185.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.64. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.34 and a 52 week high of $194.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.86 billion, a PE ratio of 79.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. Analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

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.