Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 79.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,740 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,620 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.'s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 174,121 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 43,564 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,475,000 after buying an additional 9,240 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,626,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 77.0% in the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 6,966 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth approximately $18,176,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Waste Connections Stock Performance
Shares of WCN traded up $1.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.59. 70,980 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 964,694. 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 company has a market capitalization of $51.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.62, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The business's 50-day moving average price is $189.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $183.97. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.34 and a twelve month high of $201.66.
Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Waste Connections Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.315 dividend. 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 0.64%. Waste Connections's payout ratio is currently 52.72%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
WCN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. CIBC reduced their target price 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. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.43.
Read Our Latest Research Report on WCN
About Waste Connections
(
Free Report)
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.
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