Sciencast Management LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Sciencast Management LP decreased its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,760 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $2,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections by 307.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 45,420 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,122,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.6% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 78,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,010,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1.7% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 59,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,660,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 17.5% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,536,000 after buying an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WCN. CIBC lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN opened at $189.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $48.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $185.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.64. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.