Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC Sells 2,439 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 22.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,310 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,439 shares during the quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth $1,009,726,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 26,095.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,909,370 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $442,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902,081 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth $340,611,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Waste Management by 250.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,658,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,237 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total value of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 87,947 shares of company stock valued at $20,536,508. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $241.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $222.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $241.68.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.75 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. National Bank Financial upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 26th. HSBC upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $265.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.06.

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.