Alta Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Alta Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1,486.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,573 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 37,079 shares during the period. Alta Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $9,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,526,823,000 after purchasing an additional 538,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,654,173,000 after purchasing an additional 64,260 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at $1,009,726,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,076,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $822,588,000 after acquiring an additional 224,279 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. HSBC upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Melius began coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Monday, June 9th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.00.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total value of $159,609.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,917,311.02. This trade represents a 3.91% 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 Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:WM opened at $233.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.83. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $242.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $233.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.00. The stock has a market cap of $93.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 35.67% and a net margin of 11.67%. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.