Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Swiss National Bank lessened its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 4.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 744,845 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 37,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $130,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the 1st quarter worth approximately $577,000. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in Waste Connections by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the second quarter worth $382,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 6.7% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 225,144 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,039,000 after buying an additional 14,227 shares during the period. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Waste Connections during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,296,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WCN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $208.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays set a $176.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $213.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $212.00 price target on Waste Connections in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Waste Connections from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.75.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $165.67 on Wednesday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.65 and a 1 year high of $201.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50-day moving average is $168.14 and its 200 day moving average is $172.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.The firm had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 33.57%.

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.