Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Trims Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 272,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,564 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $48,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WM. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $608,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 62,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,520,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in Waste Management by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 96,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,741,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,835,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 3,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $609,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,804,339.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.24.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WM stock traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $207.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,237,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,702,229. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $188.30.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The business had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 1.44%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.