GAMMA Investing LLC Makes New Investment in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $582,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 8.5% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,272 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,132,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,455,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 93.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,348,000 after buying an additional 22,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,319,000 after buying an additional 500,701 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on WM. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total transaction of $69,075.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,218 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,641.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total transaction of $69,075.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,218 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,641.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE WM traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $209.54. The company had a trading volume of 684,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,650,357. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $207.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.15. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.00%.

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.