Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Bought by Advisor OS LLC

Advisor OS LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 630 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,063,072,000 after purchasing an additional 520,096 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,961,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $597,614,000 after buying an additional 157,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Waste Management by 12.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,175,000 after buying an additional 276,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WM shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.94.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 5,826 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,294,071.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,442 shares in the company, valued at $15,424,457.04. This trade represents a 7.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,192 shares of company stock worth $15,025,861. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $230.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $92.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $232.44. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.47.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (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 37.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 44.12%.

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.