Ring Mountain Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Ring Mountain Capital LLC bought a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $374,062,000 after purchasing an additional 437,613 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 138.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 718,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $149,168,000 after purchasing an additional 416,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $60,668,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 5,732 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.51, for a total transaction of $1,304,087.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 55,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,646,598.37. This trade represents a 9.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,349,728.38. This represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,192 shares of company stock valued at $15,025,861. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on WM. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.94.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $233.53 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $216.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $235.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. This is an increase 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 48.53%.

Waste Management Profile

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.