Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 400 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 71,789 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $12,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after purchasing an additional 174,121 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $687,935,000. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,698,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $634,200,000 after acquiring an additional 65,795 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 3,332,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $571,846,000 after acquiring an additional 29,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Waste Connections by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,678,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $478,777,000 after acquiring an additional 699,012 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WCN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC decreased their target price on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $192.80 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $187.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.89.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 52.72%.

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.