Waste Management, Inc. $WM Shares Newly Purchased by R Squared Ltd

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $834,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,733,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,849,981,000 after acquiring an additional 535,079 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,008,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,013,831,000 after acquiring an additional 507,209 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.1% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,121,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $695,704,000 after acquiring an additional 35,322 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,320,966 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $533,340,000 after acquiring an additional 26,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 8.2% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,207,477 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $492,002,000 after purchasing an additional 166,458 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $244.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $221.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $225.81. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $200.57 and a 52-week high of $248.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.18 by ($0.03). Waste Management had a return on equity of 31.97% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm had revenue of $6.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.98 EPS. Waste Management’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a $0.9450 dividend. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 49.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,365 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total value of $300,163.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $771,629.10. This trade represents a 28.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.00, for a total transaction of $121,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,108,546. This trade represents a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.04.

Waste Management Profile

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.