Wealthfront Advisers LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 57,093 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $13,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Waste Management by 21.2% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,819,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Waste Management during the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Waste Management by 0.9% during the second quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 33,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,639,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in Waste Management by 1.7% during the second quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,702,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs grew its position in Waste Management by 0.9% during the second quarter. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs now owns 20,282 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,641,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on WM shares. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Waste Management from $272.00 to $271.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $253.00.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $214.56 on Monday. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $199.69 and a twelve month high of $242.58. The stock has a market cap of $86.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $219.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.18.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.03. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 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.