Vestor Capital LLC Sells 24,013 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Vestor Capital LLC cut its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 98.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 24,013 shares during the quarter. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $49,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Waste Connections by 20.5% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,516,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,302 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 57.7% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,500,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $522,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,418 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Waste Connections by 0.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,043,138 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $408,695,000 after buying an additional 23,801 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 8.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,010,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $404,264,000 after buying an additional 236,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,582,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,189,000 after buying an additional 147,271 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.5 %

WCN stock traded up $0.77 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $166.17. The stock had a trading volume of 410,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 921,620. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $42.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $167.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.68. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $126.12 and a 52-week high of $173.02.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.66%. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. Waste Connections’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.33.

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.