Kintegral Advisory LLC Sells 165 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Kintegral Advisory LLC lessened its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 165 shares during the quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after buying an additional 709,678 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. acquired a new position in Waste Management in the third quarter valued at about $214,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1,036.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 115,595 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,998,000 after acquiring an additional 105,423 shares in the last quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 10,366.7% during the third quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 314 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 2,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.94.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM opened at $227.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.07. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.59 and a 1-year high of $230.39. The company has a market cap of $91.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.51, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. On average, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 4,000 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.89, for a total transaction of $903,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,185,967.59. The trade was a 17.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 5,826 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,294,071.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,442 shares in the company, valued at $15,424,457.04. The trade was a 7.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,055 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,340. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.