DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 81,425 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 13.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 534,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 81,425 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.21% of Waste Connections worth $91,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,498,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,902,110,000 after purchasing an additional 88,137 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Waste Connections by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,715,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $856,641,000 after acquiring an additional 509,929 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 43.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,364,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $651,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320,933 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,104,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $612,605,000 after purchasing an additional 280,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth $592,392,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on WCN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, July 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.28.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Waste Connections stock traded up $0.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $179.49. The stock had a trading volume of 1,058,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 976,633. The stock has a market cap of $46.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $173.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.67. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $126.12 and a 1 year high of $182.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 37.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,706,466.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total value of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,706,466.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total transaction of $169,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $899,249. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,800 shares of company stock worth $3,654,600 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.