Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd Raises Stock Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd boosted its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 61.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,747 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,423 shares during the quarter. Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd's holdings in Waste Connections were worth $643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $950,055,000 after acquiring an additional 30,890 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 3,332,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $571,846,000 after acquiring an additional 29,542 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Waste Connections by 35.3% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,678,562 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $478,777,000 after purchasing an additional 699,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Waste Connections by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,036,856 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $349,483,000 after purchasing an additional 109,701 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WCN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective 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. CIBC cut their target price on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup raised their price target on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $202.43.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of WCN traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $192.80. 728,768 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 913,883. The company has a market capitalization of $49.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.67, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.34 and a 52 week high of $194.83. The company's 50 day moving average is $187.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.91.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

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

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.