Rathbones Group PLC Reduces Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Rathbones Group PLC lowered its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 657,075 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 24,370 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.25% of Waste Connections worth $112,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Waste Connections by 34.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 303,040 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $54,190,000 after acquiring an additional 77,466 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 785.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,682 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 4,153 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 722,426 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $129,184,000 after purchasing an additional 45,215 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Waste Connections by 6.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 72,189 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,909,000 after buying an additional 4,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 129,256 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $22,178,000 after buying an additional 22,310 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

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Waste Connections Stock Up 1.5 %

Waste Connections stock traded up $2.92 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $194.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,469,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 964,291. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.48, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $189.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.72. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.34 and a 52-week high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections's payout ratio is 52.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WCN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. CIBC reduced their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup reduced their target price on Waste Connections from $218.00 to $209.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.43.

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.