TD Asset Management Inc. Acquires 65,795 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

TD Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,698,507 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 65,795 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. owned about 1.43% of Waste Connections worth $634,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 307.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $344,615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,733 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 4.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 564,335 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $100,983,000 after buying an additional 22,500 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 10.9% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 123,896 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $22,171,000 after buying an additional 12,187 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Waste Connections by 86.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,932 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,955,000 after buying an additional 5,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections by 6.3% during the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,515 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WCN. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC decreased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Four investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.43.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN traded down $1.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $192.80. The stock had a trading volume of 728,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 913,883. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.81 billion, a PE ratio of 80.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.34 and a 52 week high of $194.83. The business's 50-day moving average price is $187.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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, equities analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio is 52.72%.

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.