Apollon Wealth Management LLC Buys 6,343 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,228 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,343 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $13,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after buying an additional 538,567 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the 4th 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,009,726,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,076,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $822,588,000 after purchasing an additional 224,279 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,996,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $806,509,000 after purchasing an additional 465,789 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.1%

WM stock opened at $225.90 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.59 and a 1-year high of $242.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $232.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.87.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. CIBC raised their target price on Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $263.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Eight equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $251.29.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. The trade was a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 directly owned 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.