Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 174,121 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 174,121 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.35% of Waste Connections worth $5,025,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 307.1% during the third 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at about $240,422,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 432.6% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,259,312 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $225,078,000 after buying an additional 1,022,851 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 699,012 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 199.4% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 591,250 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $105,727,000 after acquiring an additional 393,763 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Waste Connections Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Waste Connections stock traded up $0.94 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $192.68. 131,959 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 881,065. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.34 and a 52 week high of $194.83. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $186.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.79. The company has a market cap of $49.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective 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, CIBC dropped their target price on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.43.

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.