HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Purchases 492 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 22.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth about $687,935,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Waste Connections by 307.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,615,000 after buying an additional 1,453,733 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $240,422,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in 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 valued at $478,777,000 after acquiring an additional 699,012 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 199.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 591,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $105,727,000 after acquiring an additional 393,763 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WCN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.00.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $196.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.83 billion, a PE ratio of 82.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.34 and a 12 month high of $197.74. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $188.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.13.

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

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 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.