Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Bought by Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC

Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC raised its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 12.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,175,000 after buying an additional 276,287 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Waste Management by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,759,000 after acquiring an additional 28,266 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,980,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.29.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 4,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.11, for a total value of $941,181.86. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,288,582.29. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 79,522 shares of company stock valued at $18,084,124. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM stock opened at $233.03 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $228.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.15. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $239.32. The stock has a market cap of $93.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The company 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 posted $1.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.77%.

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.