Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Buys 6,248 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,248 shares during the quarter. Waste Connections accounts for 1.0% of Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $18,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter worth about $558,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 51.9% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 30,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,295,000 after buying an additional 10,566 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 94.2% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 31,289 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,369,000 after buying an additional 15,179 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 239.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 647,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $115,558,000 after buying an additional 457,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WCN shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.00.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of WCN stock opened at $196.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $50.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.32, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.34 and a 1 year high of $197.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $188.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $183.13.

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

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

Waste Connections 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.