Rench Wealth Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Rench Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 16,540 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,757,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 17,242.8% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 48,936,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,157,200,000 after buying an additional 48,654,179 shares during the last quarter. XXEC Inc. bought a new position in Waste Connections in the second quarter worth about $164,870,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Waste Connections in the second quarter worth about $1,061,947,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $697,519,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the second quarter valued at approximately $589,671,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $199.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $210.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $176.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Philip Rivard sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.57, for a total transaction of $416,425.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,262.38. The trade was a 77.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Cloninger sold 2,811 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.02, for a total transaction of $480,737.22. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 11,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,995,119.32. This represents a 19.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Connections Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $161.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.89 and a 1-year high of $179.74. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $167.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $163.08. The company has a market capitalization of $40.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.48.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.15. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 10.86%.The company had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.73%.

Waste Connections Company Profile

Waste Connections, Inc is an integrated solid waste services company that provides collection, transfer, disposal, recycling and resource-recovery services across the United States and Canada. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers through a network of collection operations, transfer stations, landfills and recycling facilities.

Its services include curbside and containerized waste collection, construction and demolition debris management, recycling, landfill disposal, and the management of non-hazardous oilfield waste.