Wolverine Asset Management LLC Lowers Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Wolverine Asset Management LLC lessened its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 33.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $3,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after acquiring an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in Waste Management by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 124,848 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,193,000 after acquiring an additional 15,974 shares during the last quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Phoenix Financial Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 1,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 14,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,903,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WM shares. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Waste Management from $245.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.35.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM stock opened at $235.11 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $230.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $228.84. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.69 and a 52-week high of $242.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.88, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.64. 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 released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The business’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.96%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Waste Management

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.