First Horizon Advisors Inc. Acquires 2,886 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,813 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,886 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $9,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,272 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 22,455 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 500,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on WM. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.24.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was 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 approximately $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE WM traded up $0.72 on Friday, hitting $207.88. 2,219,746 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,683,213. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $208.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.30. The firm 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. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.71 and a 52-week high of $214.54.

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

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. This is an increase 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 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.