Guardian Partners Inc. Acquires Shares of 14,927 Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 14,927 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,626,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Waste Connections by 307.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,615,000 after buying an additional 1,453,733 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Waste Connections by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 78,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,010,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,536,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 554,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,121,000 after purchasing an additional 8,549 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 564,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $100,983,000 after purchasing an additional 22,500 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WCN. CIBC lowered their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.43.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $189.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $160.34 and a 12-month high of $194.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.22, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.62.

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

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

Waste Connections 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.