Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Receives $201.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $202.43.

WCN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. CIBC decreased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versor Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 75.1% during the 3rd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 3,527 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the third quarter worth $552,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the third quarter worth $2,503,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Waste Connections by 34.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 303,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,190,000 after purchasing an additional 77,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Waste Connections by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Waste Connections Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:WCN opened at $189.72 on Monday. Waste Connections has a 52 week low of $160.34 and a 52 week high of $194.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $181.01 and its 200-day moving average is $182.29. The firm has a market cap of $48.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

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.