Insider Selling: Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) SVP Sells $1,016,421.12 in Stock

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 4,576 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,016,421.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,052,881.80. The trade was a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $224.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.22 billion, a PE ratio of 33.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.48 and a twelve month high of $230.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $211.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 38.88%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $538,013,000 after buying an additional 2,588,842 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $340,611,000. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 11.3% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after buying an additional 520,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Management by 32.1% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $374,062,000 after buying an additional 437,613 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WM shares. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Argus raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Ten 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.50.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of environmental solutions to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services, including picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility (MRF), or disposal site; and owns and operates transfer stations, as well as owns, develops, and operates landfill facilities that produce landfill gas used as renewable natural gas for generating electricity.