Manatuck Hill Partners LLC Takes $262,000 Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Manatuck Hill Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,009,726,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $340,611,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Waste Management by 250.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,658,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,716,000 after buying an additional 1,184,905 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after buying an additional 1,151,237 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Management by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,526,823,000 after buying an additional 538,567 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.29.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:WM opened at $233.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $239.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.20. The company has a market cap of $93.98 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.75 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 5,826 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total value of $1,294,071.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,442 shares in the company, valued at $15,424,457.04. The trade was a 7.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. This represents a 18.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,924 shares of company stock worth $21,298,176. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.