Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Short Interest Update

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,210,000 shares, a decrease of 25.8% from the September 15th total of 1,630,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 898,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In other news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total value of $180,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at $778,428.15. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at $778,428.15. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total value of $358,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,805,272.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,600 shares of company stock worth $3,842,550. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections by 116.2% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 160 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Connections during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections in 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 valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE:WCN opened at $182.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.14, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average of $181.90 and a 200 day moving average of $174.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Waste Connections has a 1-year low of $126.12 and a 1-year high of $187.54.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.07. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WCN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Eight Capital raised shares of Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six investment 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.53.

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.