Aureus Asset Management LLC Sells 32,737 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Aureus Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 188,285 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 32,737 shares during the period. Waste Connections makes up about 2.2% of Aureus Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Aureus Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Waste Connections worth $33,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WCN. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,998,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Waste Connections by 432.6% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,259,312 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $225,078,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,851 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 67.4% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 129,131 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $23,091,000 after acquiring an additional 51,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 16,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,004,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Eight Capital raised Waste Connections to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $195.56.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

WCN traded down $1.64 during trading on Monday, reaching $190.83. 763,905 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 886,132. The company has a market capitalization of $49.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.88, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $182.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.68. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.25 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.30 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. The business's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.62%.

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.