Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys New Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 90,255 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,483,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Waste Connections by 307.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,733 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,157,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at about $330,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 18.0% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 6,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 2.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 198,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,429,000 after buying an additional 4,340 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. CIBC reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. 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 note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.00.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $188.07 on Friday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.34 and a 52 week high of $201.66. The company has a market capitalization of $48.59 billion, a PE ratio of 78.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $188.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $183.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

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.