PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. Raises Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 2.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 320 shares during the quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $2,529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Waste Connections by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,247,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,901,049,000 after buying an additional 954,242 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1.8% in the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,501,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,208,669,000 after acquiring an additional 117,939 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 5.8% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,575,547 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $892,023,000 after acquiring an additional 250,684 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 3.2% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,942,989 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $735,169,000 after purchasing an additional 123,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Waste Connections by 2.7% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,863,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $754,042,000 after purchasing an additional 100,716 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Waste Connections Price Performance

NYSE WCN opened at $166.08 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $173.80 and its 200 day moving average is $183.63. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.37 and a fifty-two week high of $201.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $42.52 billion, a PE ratio of 69.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.60.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 6.65%.The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 5th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 58.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Connections news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.44, for a total value of $1,569,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,883 shares in the company, valued at $2,596,190.52. This represents a 37.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WCN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. CIBC reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Waste Connections and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Waste Connections from $221.00 to $219.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $210.63.

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.