Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,269 shares during the period. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $1,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,041,000 after purchasing an additional 356,798 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 46.2% in 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 last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $984,214,000 after purchasing an additional 150,683 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WCN shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $221.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.21.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.5%

WCN opened at $191.94 on Monday. 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 1-year low of $160.34 and a 1-year high of $201.66. The company has a market capitalization of $49.59 billion, a PE ratio of 80.31, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.44.

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

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. 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.