Yarbrough Capital LLC Takes Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Yarbrough Capital LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,735 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. National Bank Financial upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total value of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. The trade was a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE WM opened at $236.33 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $231.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $223.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $242.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.10 billion, a PE ratio of 34.75, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. 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.