Lakeside Advisors INC. Sells 275 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Lakeside Advisors INC. decreased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,293 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Waste Management makes up about 2.6% of Lakeside Advisors INC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $3,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WM. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its stake in Waste Management by 1.7% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $461,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,080,935.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,507 shares of company stock worth $4,157,770. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WM. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.85.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $204.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,457,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,623,895. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.26 billion, a PE ratio of 36.22, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.71 and a twelve month high of $214.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $206.30 and its 200 day moving average is $184.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

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.