Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Position Increased by Ossiam

Ossiam grew its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 49.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 43,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,348 shares during the quarter. Ossiam’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $7,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% during 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 buying an additional 174,121 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Waste Connections by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,481,041,000 after acquiring an additional 356,798 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its position in Waste Connections by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,231,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at $687,935,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WCN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $218.00 to $209.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.43.

Waste Connections Price Performance

NYSE WCN opened at $197.32 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.37. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.34 and a 52-week high of $201.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. Equities research analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is 52.72%.

Waste Connections 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.