Bridgewater Associates LP Invests $1.27 Million in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,073 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,265,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Trust raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 3.7% during the second quarter. American Trust now owns 1,573 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 15.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 529 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 8.8% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 916 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 1.4% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,966 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 6.3% in the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.4 %

WCN stock opened at $192.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $182.31 and a 200-day moving average of $178.68. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.65 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.05. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This is a boost from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is 34.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank began coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.56.

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.