Cornerstone Advisory LLC Purchases 727 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Cornerstone Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 30.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 727 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Waste Management by 8.2% during the 4th 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 increased its stake in 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 valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maia Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $234.18 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $228.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company has a market cap of $94.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $239.32.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.75 earnings per share. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WM shares. Raymond James increased 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. HSBC upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. 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 report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 85,257 shares in the company, valued at $19,158,100.47. This trade represents a 18.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,522 shares of company stock valued at $18,084,124 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.