Chancellor Financial Group WB LP Acquires New Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Chancellor Financial Group WB LP bought a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,085 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $623,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,792 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Waste Management by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI increased its holdings in Waste Management by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 10,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,122,000 after buying an additional 1,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on WM shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.06.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael J. Watson sold 1,547 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.11, for a total value of $352,886.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 44,037 shares in the company, valued at $10,045,280.07. This represents a 3.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,385 shares of company stock valued at $6,636,603. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM opened at $238.05 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $222.48. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $239.32. The company has a market cap of $95.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.75 EPS. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.77%.

About Waste Management

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.