Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $102,000 Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 572 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 130 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 307.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,733 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 44.2% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,964,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,037,000 after purchasing an additional 602,055 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the second quarter worth $64,176,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 252.5% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 510,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,477,000 after purchasing an additional 365,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc bought a new position in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at $54,800,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on WCN shares. Eight Capital raised shares of Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $195.56.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of WCN opened at $193.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $49.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.15 and a 52 week high of $194.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.32.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This is a boost from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.62%.

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.