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

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th.

Waste Connections has raised 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 Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WCN traded down $1.00 during trading on Thursday, reaching $165.18. 1,608,297 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 913,076. Waste Connections has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $173.02. The stock has a market cap of $42.62 billion, a PE ratio of 55.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WCN. UBS Group downgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.87.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In other news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.