Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Bought by Sage Mountain Advisors LLC

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. HSBC downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.85.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total value of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,934,010.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total value of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $207.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.09 billion, a PE ratio of 36.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $207.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $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 year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.