Simmons Bank Lowers Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Simmons Bank lowered its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,044 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 314 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Waste Management by 4.3% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 128,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,650,000 after purchasing an additional 5,255 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 146,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,401,000 after purchasing an additional 10,152 shares in the last quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY grew its stake in Waste Management by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 4,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $630,000 after buying an additional 2,286 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,934,010.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.0 %

WM traded down $0.06 on Wednesday, hitting $210.44. The company had a trading volume of 604,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,276. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The firm has a market cap of $84.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $209.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $189.80. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.26 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.