Barclays PLC Has $54.19 Million Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Barclays PLC grew its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 303,040 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 77,466 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned 0.12% of Waste Connections worth $54,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 2.3% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,103,895 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,423,373,000 after acquiring an additional 178,870 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,313,725 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $950,055,000 after acquiring an additional 30,890 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 35.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 699,012 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,332,002 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $417,385,000 after purchasing an additional 142,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 15.5% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,303,339 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $401,936,000 after purchasing an additional 309,619 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WCN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Eight Capital upgraded Waste Connections to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.88.

Waste Connections Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of WCN stock traded down $4.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $179.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,051,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 889,496. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $144.69 and a one year high of $194.83. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $184.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $179.91. The company has a market cap of $46.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. This is an increase from Waste Connections's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.62%.

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.