Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Short Interest Down 14.1% in February

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,250,000 shares, a drop of 14.1% from the February 13th total of 2,620,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 307.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,453,733 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 82.3% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 514 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,617 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $647,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 982.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 109,401 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $19,563,000 after acquiring an additional 99,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its position in Waste Connections by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 45,420 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,122,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WCN shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, CIBC decreased their price objective on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.43.

Waste Connections Price Performance

WCN stock traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $189.35. 910,958 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 882,302. 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 $48.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. Waste Connections has a 52-week low of $160.34 and a 52-week high of $194.83. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $185.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.62.

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 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, analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given 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 dividend yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.