Blair William & Co. IL Has $14.03 Million Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 81,747 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,625 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Waste Connections were worth $14,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Waste Connections by 153.3% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 152 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WCN. Scotiabank cut their target price on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. CIBC cut their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of WCN stock traded down $0.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $195.65. 576,384 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 916,971. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $197.74. 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's fifty day moving average is $187.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $183.03. The company has a market cap of $50.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio is 52.72%.

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.