OneAscent Financial Services LLC Sells 126 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

OneAscent Financial Services LLC lowered its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 3.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,591 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 126 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Global Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Trading Up 1.4 %

WCN opened at $186.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $48.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.09. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.33 and a fifty-two week high of $188.30.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WCN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Eight Capital upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.56.

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.