O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Sells 11,798 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 22.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,798 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $6,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 44.2% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 401,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $68,695,000 after purchasing an additional 123,016 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Waste Connections by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 254,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,676,000 after acquiring an additional 46,150 shares during the period. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth $1,316,000. DnB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 124,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,331,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at $434,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC dropped their price target on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.43.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $196.50 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $187.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $183.03. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.34 and a 52-week high of $197.74. The stock has a market cap of $50.77 billion, a PE ratio of 82.22, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Waste Connections’s dividend 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.