Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Position Reduced by Cresset Asset Management LLC

Cresset Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 28.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 60,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 24,527 shares during the quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $12,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,135,000 after buying an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,759,000 after acquiring an additional 28,266 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Waste Management by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,980,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its stake in Waste Management by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 1,869,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $377,184,000 after acquiring an additional 11,940 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WM shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. CIBC increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.29.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 3,094 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.11, for a total transaction of $705,772.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 53,663 shares in the company, valued at $12,241,066.93. This represents a 5.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,246.40. This represents a 12.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,522 shares of company stock worth $18,987,684. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WM opened at $234.35 on Wednesday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $239.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $228.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $220.69. 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 (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

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

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.