Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Raises Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 301,333 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,123 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $69,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 26,095.2% in the 1st 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Waste Management by 250.1% in the 4th 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 period. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $205,506,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Waste Management by 780.8% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 560,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $113,123,000 after buying an additional 496,952 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 465,789 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of Waste Management 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 owned 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WM. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, April 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.35.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.1%

WM opened at $228.89 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $231.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $228.38. The company has a market cap of $92.20 billion, a PE ratio of 33.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.64. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $199.69 and a 1 year high of $242.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.03. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.96%.

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.