Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Declares $0.29 Quarterly Dividend

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.285 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th.

Waste Connections has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 7 years. Waste Connections has a payout ratio of 20.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Waste Connections to earn $5.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.7%.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:WCN traded down $1.00 during trading on Thursday, hitting $165.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,618,263 shares, compared to its average volume of 913,201. Waste Connections has a fifty-two week low of $126.12 and a fifty-two week high of $173.02. The company has a market capitalization of $42.62 billion, a PE ratio of 55.46, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $168.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 9.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections will post 4.85 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WCN shares. CIBC increased their target price on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group downgraded Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $181.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Atb Cap Markets downgraded Waste Connections from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Five research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.87.

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.