Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 109,701 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,036,856 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 109,701 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.79% of Waste Connections worth $349,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WCN. Manchester Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter worth $36,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter worth $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $187.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 496,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 971,418. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.52, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.77. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $179.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.83. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WCN. CIBC cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.00.

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.