Criterion Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 2,052 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Criterion Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 43.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,813 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,052 shares during the quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $1,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WCN. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 20.5% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,516,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,302 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Waste Connections by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,715,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $856,641,000 after buying an additional 509,929 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,364,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $651,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320,933 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,104,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $612,605,000 after acquiring an additional 280,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at about $592,392,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total value of $169,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,321 shares in the company, valued at $899,249. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total value of $169,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $899,249. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael W. Harlan sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.59, for a total transaction of $251,385.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,004 shares in the company, valued at $1,341,390.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $752,385. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.2 %

WCN stock traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $175.36. 995,988 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 955,091. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.70. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $126.12 and a 52-week high of $177.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $167.20 and a 200-day moving average of $162.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on WCN shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Connections presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.94.

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.