Connecticut Wealth Management LLC Acquires 523 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Connecticut Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 19.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cornerstone Advisory LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 3,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 727 shares during the period. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. grew its stake in Waste Management by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. now owns 22,950 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,631,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC now owns 22,372 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,514,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. Adalta Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Novem Group acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $233.30 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.59 and a 12 month high of $239.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current 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 $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 4,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,288,582.29. The trade was a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 79,522 shares of company stock worth $18,084,124 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WM shares. Wall Street Zen raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. CIBC lifted their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.44.

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.