Aventura Private Wealth LLC Makes New $580,000 Investment in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $580,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $755,938,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 39.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,455,162 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $783,218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,150 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,136,218 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,536,000 after buying an additional 918,245 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter worth about $140,935,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Waste Connections by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,585,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,552,682,000 after buying an additional 717,440 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $205.00 target price on Waste Connections and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $208.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Scotiabank set a $197.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $213.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $203.52.

Waste Connections Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $162.76 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $167.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.28. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $155.65 and a 52-week high of $201.66. The stock has a market cap of $41.54 billion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.57%.

Waste Connections Profile

Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) is a North American integrated waste services company that provides a range of solid waste and environmental services to municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers. The company offers collection, transportation, transfer, disposal and recycling services, and operates an extensive network of transfer stations and disposal facilities. Waste Connections positions itself as a provider of infrastructure-driven waste solutions across many regions of the United States and Canada.

The company’s operating activities include routine curbside and commercial collection, roll-off and container services, operation of landfills and transfer stations, and recycling and resource recovery programs.