Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Short Interest Down 14.1% in February

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,250,000 shares, a decrease of 14.1% from the February 13th total of 2,620,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.2 %

WCN stock traded down $0.38 during trading on Thursday, hitting $190.32. The company had a trading volume of 90,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 876,781. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.63, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. Waste Connections has a 52-week low of $160.34 and a 52-week high of $194.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Connections will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WCN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. CIBC lowered their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price 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. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.43.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after purchasing an additional 174,121 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Waste Connections by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,481,041,000 after purchasing an additional 356,798 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its position in Waste Connections by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in Waste Connections by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Waste Connections by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $984,214,000 after purchasing an additional 150,683 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

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.