Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.32 Per Share

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of 0.315 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29.

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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Waste Connections to earn $5.46 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 20.9%.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $180.36. 1,099,145 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 880,777. Waste Connections has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $187.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.01. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.02 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total transaction of $358,260.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,078 shares in the company, valued at $1,805,272.14. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,706,466.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total value of $358,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,805,272.14. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,842,550 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WCN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Six research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $194.19.

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.