Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 1,440 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 40.1% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the third quarter worth approximately $51,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WM shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.21.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $210.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $208.54 and a 200 day moving average of $187.08. 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 $84.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.10%.

About Waste Management

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.