Patron Partners LLC Sells 116 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Patron Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 116 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WM. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 35.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 19.2% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,274 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management in the 1st quarter valued at $122,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Management by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,945,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 14,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,090,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WM shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $226.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.11.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $223.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $89.75 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $210.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $209.33. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $168.73 and a one year high of $226.50.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. Waste Management’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Company 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.