Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Reduces Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP reduced its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 335,019 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,018 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned approximately 0.13% of Waste Connections worth $62,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WCN. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 19.5% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 385,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $71,541,000 after purchasing an additional 62,737 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 7,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,867,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,764,546,000 after buying an additional 620,600 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the second quarter worth approximately $353,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 6.5% in the second quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 78,790 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,712,000 after buying an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on WCN. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $221.00 to $218.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $186.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Waste Connections and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.44, for a total transaction of $1,569,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 14,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,596,190.52. This represents a 37.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $173.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $171.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.98. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.27 and a 52-week high of $201.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.60.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 6.65%.The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.33%.

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.