Harvey Partners LLC Buys 37,500 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Harvey Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 17.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 252,500 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 37,500 shares during the quarter. Waste Connections comprises 5.1% of Harvey Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Harvey Partners LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Waste Connections worth $45,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of 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 period. FMR LLC boosted 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 valued at $950,055,000 after acquiring an additional 30,890 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 6.5% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,332,002 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $417,385,000 after acquiring an additional 142,751 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 15.5% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,303,339 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $401,936,000 after acquiring an additional 309,619 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 44.2% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,964,082 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,037,000 after acquiring an additional 602,055 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup raised their target price on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $195.56.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.4 %

WCN traded up $0.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $191.54. 920,172 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 886,927. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $137.25 and a one year high of $194.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.62, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.74. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $182.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.68.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

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

Waste Connections 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.