Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.29

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.285 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 7th.

Waste Connections has raised its dividend by an average of 11.4% annually over the last three years. Waste Connections has a dividend payout ratio of 20.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Waste Connections to earn $5.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.6%.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WCN stock traded up $1.03 on Tuesday, reaching $177.44. 13,741 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 907,550. Waste Connections has a one year low of $126.12 and a one year high of $182.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $173.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.97. The stock has a market cap of $45.78 billion, a PE ratio of 57.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 10.23%. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at $8,706,466.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 value of $2,902,215.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at $8,706,466.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 2,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,800 shares of company stock worth $3,654,600 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on WCN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 18th. CIBC upped their target price on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.28.

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.