Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Increases Dividend to $0.32 Per Share

by · The Cerbat Gem

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN – Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of 0.315 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This is a boost from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29.

Waste Connections has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.4% annually over the last three years. Waste Connections has a payout ratio of 23.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Waste Connections to earn $5.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.2%.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.6 %

Waste Connections stock opened at $178.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $46.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections has a 52 week low of $129.31 and a 52 week high of $187.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $181.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. Waste Connections’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WCN. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank began coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock. CIBC raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $195.56.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Waste Connections

About Waste Connections

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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.

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