WCM Investment Management LLC Sells 1,647,352 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

WCM Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 17.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,692,381 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,647,352 shares during the quarter. Waste Connections accounts for about 3.1% of WCM Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. WCM Investment Management LLC owned 2.98% of Waste Connections worth $1,364,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in Waste Connections by 6.8% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 26,800 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the first quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Waste Connections by 6.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 144,756 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $24,899,000 after acquiring an additional 8,505 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 1st quarter valued at $150,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,581 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,992,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WCN. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eight Capital raised Waste Connections to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $195.56.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE WCN traded up $1.32 during trading on Monday, hitting $185.36. The stock had a trading volume of 802,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 886,224. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $129.31 and a one year high of $187.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. Waste Connections's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Connections's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.62%.

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.