Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 700 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 37,355 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $6,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 4th quarter worth about $592,392,000. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 374,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $55,858,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 114.2% in the 4th quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 9,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 4,907 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 220,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,895,000 after acquiring an additional 74,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sycomore Asset Management raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 37,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,646,000 after acquiring an additional 11,110 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total transaction of $169,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,321 shares in the company, valued at $899,249. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total transaction of $169,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,321 shares in the company, valued at $899,249. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael W. Harlan sold 1,500 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.59, for a total value of $251,385.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,341,390.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $752,385. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WCN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 18th. CIBC raised their price target on Waste Connections from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Five research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.69.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WCN traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $177.66. The company had a trading volume of 231,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 891,338. The company has a market capitalization of $45.84 billion, a PE ratio of 57.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $126.12 and a one year high of $179.45.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. Waste Connections’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 37.01%.

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.