Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 66,895 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 72.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,895 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.06% of Waste Connections worth $27,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 15,203 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,607,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,980 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,399,000 after buying an additional 1,772 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at $69,000. Ninepoint Partners LP boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP now owns 11,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,988,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choate Investment Advisors boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 97,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,801,000 after buying an additional 15,338 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. CIBC decreased their price target on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.3 %

WCN stock opened at $189.35 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $48.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.22, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.34 and a twelve month high of $194.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $185.60 and a 200-day moving average of $182.64.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.72%.

Waste Connections 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.