Waste Management, Inc. $WM Stake Raised by Northeast Investment Management

Northeast Investment Management raised its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 141,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the period. Waste Management makes up approximately 1.0% of Northeast Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Northeast Investment Management’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $28,867,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,440,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. now owns 23,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,788,000 after buying an additional 889 shares during the period. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 68,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,219,000 after buying an additional 6,309 shares during the period. Finally, Third View Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Third View Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,286 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,913,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WM shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Waste Management from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $267.00 price objective on shares of Waste Management in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $244.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on Waste Management from $277.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $220.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.89.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $238.26 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21. The company has a market cap of $94.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $218.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.41. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.47 and a 52 week high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by ($0.03). Waste Management had a return on equity of 31.97% and a net margin of 11.78%. The business had revenue of $6.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were paid a dividend of $0.9450 per share. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 49.61%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other news, CAO John Carroll sold 1,365 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total value of $300,163.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $771,629.10. This represents a 28.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc, doing business as WM (NYSE:WM), is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, transportation, disposal, recycling and resource-recovery services. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers through a network of collection operations, transfer stations, landfills, recycling facilities and other environmental infrastructure.

WM’s services include curbside and commercial waste collection, construction and demolition debris management, recycling, organics processing and landfill disposal.