Woodline Partners LP Invests $14.27 Million in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 73,096 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,268,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WCN. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the first quarter worth $623,155,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,247,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,901,049,000 after purchasing an additional 954,242 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 19,519.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918,564 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $179,295,000 after purchasing an additional 913,882 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 195.0% during the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,153,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $224,961,000 after purchasing an additional 762,468 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 45.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,621,661 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $316,532,000 after purchasing an additional 502,986 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WCN has been the subject of several recent research reports. CIBC reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, July 25th. Melius assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Monday, June 9th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Waste Connections from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. National Bank Financial raised Waste Connections to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of WCN stock opened at $176.19 on Thursday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.36 and a fifty-two week high of $201.66. The stock has a market cap of $45.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $188.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.04. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 6.97%.The business had revenue of $2.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.81%.

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.