Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Issues Earnings Results

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.76% and a net margin of 9.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share.

Waste Connections Price Performance

WCN opened at $165.18 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $168.31 and a 200-day moving average of $151.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.63, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Connections has a 12-month low of $126.12 and a 12-month high of $173.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on WCN shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $196.00 price target on the stock. Five 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.87.

Waste Connections Company 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.