Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$205.10.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. ATB Capital upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from C$255.00 to C$260.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Eight Capital set a C$270.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Robert Andres Nielsen sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$260.63, for a total value of C$260,625.00. Also, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$249.52, for a total transaction of C$1,996,164.00. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,571 shares of company stock worth $2,400,841. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN stock traded up C$1.47 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting C$272.30. The company had a trading volume of 19,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,538. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 100.60, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company's 50 day simple moving average is C$250.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$243.90. The stock has a market cap of C$70.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.05, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections has a 52-week low of C$179.67 and a 52-week high of C$273.51.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.426 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Waste Connections's payout ratio is currently 34.37%.

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.