Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,440 Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in Waste Connections in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Connections during the third quarter worth $40,000. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on WCN. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.33.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $165.50 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $167.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.60. The firm has a market cap of $42.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.73, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $126.12 and a 1 year high of $173.02.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.01%.

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.