Oak Ridge Investments LLC Grows Stock Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Oak Ridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $2,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 3.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 19,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,485,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Waste Connections by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 386,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,770,000 after acquiring an additional 23,194 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 13,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $842,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WCN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eight Capital raised shares of Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $206.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $178.45 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.79. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.51 and a 12-month high of $194.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.03, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.76.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.315 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.62%.

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.