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

Vestor Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 98.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 20.5% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,516,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,302 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 57.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Waste Connections by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,043,138 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $408,695,000 after buying an additional 23,801 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Waste Connections by 8.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Waste Connections by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,582,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,189,000 after buying an additional 147,271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WCN. Scotiabank raised their price target on Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.33.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

WCN stock traded up $0.77 during trading on Thursday, hitting $166.17. 410,636 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 921,620. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $126.12 and a 1 year high of $173.02. The company has a market cap of $42.88 billion, a PE ratio of 53.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

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