West Family Investments Inc. Purchases 380 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

West Family Investments Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 9.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 307.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $344,615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,733 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 438.5% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 535,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $92,106,000 after purchasing an additional 436,041 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter worth about $64,176,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 252.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 510,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $89,477,000 after acquiring an additional 365,487 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc bought a new position in Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,800,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $186.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.33 and a fifty-two week high of $188.30. The company has a market cap of $48.00 billion, a PE ratio of 51.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.09.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This is an increase 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 0.68%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WCN shares. Eight Capital upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.56.

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.