Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $495,000 in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 2,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Waste Management by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 609 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Maia Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WM opened at $228.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $239.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $219.78. The company has a market capitalization of $91.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.825 dividend. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 4,576 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,016,421.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,765 shares in the company, valued at $13,052,881.80. This trade represents a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. This trade represents a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.28.

Waste Management 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.