Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Boosts Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 22.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 254,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 46,150 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.10% of Waste Connections worth $43,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Waste Connections by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,025,836,000 after purchasing an additional 174,121 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth $687,935,000. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,698,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $634,200,000 after buying an additional 65,795 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in Waste Connections by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 3,332,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $571,846,000 after buying an additional 29,542 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,678,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $478,777,000 after acquiring an additional 699,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WCN shares. Scotiabank lowered their price objective 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. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $196.50 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.03. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $197.74. The company has a market capitalization of $50.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

Waste Connections 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.