Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Announces Earnings Results

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Waste Connections Price Performance

NYSE WCN opened at $163.53 on Friday. Waste Connections has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $173.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.19 billion, a PE ratio of 53.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.10.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on WCN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group downgraded Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $170.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Atb Cap Markets cut Waste Connections from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.