Centaurus Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 33,123 Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Centaurus Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 33,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,521,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 1st quarter valued at about $577,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Waste Connections by 12.8% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 219,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,946,000 after purchasing an additional 24,948 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Waste Connections by 2.9% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 24,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,572,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections during the second quarter worth about $2,714,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,808,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $337,708,000 after purchasing an additional 17,197 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Connections news, SVP Philip Rivard sold 2,500 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.57, for a total value of $416,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,262.38. The trade was a 77.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Patrick James Shea sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.26, for a total value of $1,171,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 19,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,103.62. This represents a 27.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 14,311 shares of company stock valued at $2,303,997 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $180.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $176.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Waste Connections from $210.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $199.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.89.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of WCN stock opened at $165.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.48. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.89 and a 12-month high of $185.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $167.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.09.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.86% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is 33.73%.

About Waste Connections

Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) is a North American integrated waste services company that provides a range of solid waste and environmental services to municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers. The company offers collection, transportation, transfer, disposal and recycling services, and operates an extensive network of transfer stations and disposal facilities. Waste Connections positions itself as a provider of infrastructure-driven waste solutions across many regions of the United States and Canada.

The company’s operating activities include routine curbside and commercial collection, roll-off and container services, operation of landfills and transfer stations, and recycling and resource recovery programs.