Short Interest in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Decreases By 14.1%

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) was the target of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,250,000 shares, a decline of 14.1% from the February 13th total of 2,620,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WCN opened at $189.98 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $185.30 and its 200 day moving average is $182.62. Waste Connections has a 1 year low of $160.34 and a 1 year high of $194.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. On average, research analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 52.72%.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at about $552,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,503,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Waste Connections by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 303,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $54,190,000 after purchasing an additional 77,466 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Waste Connections by 785.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,682 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $803,000 after purchasing an additional 4,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in Waste Connections by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 722,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $129,184,000 after purchasing an additional 45,215 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% 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.