TD Cowen Raises Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Price Target to $200.00

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) had its price objective lifted by TD Cowen from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on WCN. Raymond James lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com raised Waste Connections from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, May 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an outperformer rating in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $186.00.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $175.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.70. Waste Connections has a fifty-two week low of $126.12 and a fifty-two week high of $182.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.32 billion, a PE ratio of 57.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.92.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.07. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 10.23%. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections will post 4.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.01%.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In related news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 2,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.00, for a total value of $332,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,321 shares in the company, valued at $1,049,286. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Waste Connections news, Director Michael W. Harlan sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.59, for a total transaction of $251,385.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,004 shares in the company, valued at $1,341,390.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.00, for a total value of $332,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,321 shares in the company, valued at $1,049,286. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,500 shares of company stock worth $752,385 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 6.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 144,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,899,000 after acquiring an additional 8,505 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth $592,392,000. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 374,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $55,858,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 591.5% in the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 8,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 114.2% in the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 9,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 4,907 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.