Credit Suisse Group set a $75.00 price target on Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) in a research note released on Thursday, July 27th. The firm currently has a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.
A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WCN. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Barclays PLC reissued a buy rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Waste Connections from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, June 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $64.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, June 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Waste Connections currently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $70.47.
Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) traded down 1.08% during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.32. 668,331 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.28. Waste Connections has a 52 week low of $47.81 and a 52 week high of $67.14. The company has a market cap of $16.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.69 and a beta of 0.23.
Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. Waste Connections had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 9.19%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 61.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post $2.13 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 8th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 4th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.11%.
Waste Connections announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 2nd that allows the company to repurchase 13,180,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
In other Waste Connections news, CFO Worthing Jackman sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.27, for a total transaction of $750,605.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,801 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.
Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 17,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after buying an additional 3,880 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the first quarter valued at approximately $13,470,000. Spirit of America Management Corp NY purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the first quarter valued at approximately $110,000. DnB Asset Management AS purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the first quarter valued at approximately $944,000. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 55.8% in the first quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. now owns 244,287 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,551,000 after buying an additional 87,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.68% of the company’s stock.
About Waste Connections
Waste Connections, Inc is a solid waste services company in North America. The Company provides waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services in markets in the United States and Canada. The Company operates through six segments: Southern segment, Western segment, Eastern segment, Canada segment, Central segment and E&P segment.
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