Intact Investment Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Intact Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $3,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% during the 4th 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 period. Drake & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th 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 period. Peoples Financial Services CORP. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the 4th 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 period. PDS Planning Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup raised their target price on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the company’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total transaction of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Waste Management stock traded down $2.60 on Friday, hitting $210.10. 1,650,808 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,589,993. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $208.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $187.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The company has a market cap of $84.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.09 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.10%.

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.