Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Hold" by the six analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$205.10.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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. Also, Senior Officer Robert Andres Nielsen sold 571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$252.28, for a total value of C$144,051.88. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,571 shares of company stock worth $2,400,841. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.5 %

WCN traded up C$1.47 during trading on Thursday, reaching 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 quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.70. Waste Connections has a 12-month low of C$179.67 and a 12-month high of C$273.51. The company 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. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is C$250.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$243.90.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

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

Waste Connections Company 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.