Walter Public Investments Inc. Sells 600 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Walter Public Investments Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 25.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth about $164,000. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 584,627 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $100,310,000 after purchasing an additional 17,174 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 1,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Brown Financial Advisors now owns 5,077 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $871,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 241.3% in the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 13,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,362,000 after purchasing an additional 9,734 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank cut their price objective 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. Finally, CIBC cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.00.

Waste Connections Price Performance

WCN stock opened at $188.08 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $180.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.19. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.34 and a 52-week high of $194.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.69, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. 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.