Bridges Investment Management Inc. Sells 160 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 7.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,933 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 3,885.7% in the second quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 279 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.56.

Waste Connections Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $184.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $180.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.02. 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 52-week low of $129.31 and a 52-week high of $187.54.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.315 dividend. This is a positive change 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%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 31.32%.

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.