Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Has $7.67 Million Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 131 shares during the quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $7,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $781,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 7,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 11,655 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,698,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 1,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 609 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Melius Research raised Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $263.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, June 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $251.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 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 0.0%

Shares of WM opened at $225.82 on Thursday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $242.58. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $231.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.04. The stock has a market cap of $90.87 billion, a PE ratio of 34.06, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 35.67% and a net margin of 11.67%. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.