BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Decreases Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp cut its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 19.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,013,084 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 246,228 shares during the quarter. Waste Connections comprises approximately 1.0% of BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp owned 0.39% of Waste Connections worth $173,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at about $687,935,000. FIL Ltd raised its stake in Waste Connections by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $240,422,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 239.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 647,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $115,558,000 after buying an additional 457,137 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WCN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com cut Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.21.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE:WCN opened at $196.09 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $50.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $193.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.62. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.34 and a twelve month high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 51.85%.

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.