Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Acquires 22,310 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 20.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 129,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,310 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Waste Connections worth $22,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Waste Connections by 307.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,733 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 432.6% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,259,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $225,078,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,851 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,678,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $478,777,000 after purchasing an additional 699,012 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 44.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,964,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,037,000 after purchasing an additional 602,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Waste Connections by 199.4% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 591,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $105,727,000 after buying an additional 393,763 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WCN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $206.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.69.

Waste Connections Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:WCN traded up $2.97 on Wednesday, reaching $175.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 551,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 848,309. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $145.35 and a 1-year high of $194.83. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $181.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.78. The firm has a market cap of $45.28 billion, a PE ratio of 48.20, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. Waste Connections’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 34.62%.

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.