Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Boosts Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,098 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,322 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $4,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,313,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $950,055,000 after acquiring an additional 30,890 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,698,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $634,200,000 after acquiring an additional 65,795 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 0.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 29,542 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,678,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $478,777,000 after acquiring an additional 699,012 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WCN. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their target price on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. CIBC lowered their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $193.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $186.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.86. The firm has a market cap of $50.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $160.34 and a 1-year high of $194.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.72%.

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.