Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Grows Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 44.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,964,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 602,055 shares during the period. Waste Connections accounts for 1.7% of Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $351,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WCN. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 1st quarter worth $231,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 94.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 3,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Natixis bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $360,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Waste Connections in the 1st quarter worth approximately $266,000. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 130,632 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.8 %

WCN stock opened at $187.50 on Wednesday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.33 and a twelve month high of $188.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.26.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Raymond James cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.56.

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.