Ewa LLC Purchases New Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Ewa LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,009,726,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 26,095.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,909,370 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $442,038,000 after buying an additional 1,902,081 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $340,611,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 250.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,658,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,716,000 after buying an additional 1,184,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Melius Research raised shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $263.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, June 9th. HSBC raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.00.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of WM opened at $231.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $233.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.04. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $242.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.98, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

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.