Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Waste Connections updated its FY 2024 guidance to EPS.

Waste Connections Stock Down 1.0 %

WCN opened at $178.60 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.05. Waste Connections has a 1-year low of $126.12 and a 1-year high of $187.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $46.08 billion, a PE ratio of 57.99, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This is a boost from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is 37.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Connections

In related news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,706,466.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,706,466.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Philip Rivard sold 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.75, for a total value of $401,925.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,226 shares in the company, valued at $214,243.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,842,550 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial upped their price target on Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $194.19.

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.