Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Acquired by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 106.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 74,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,304 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $13,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP. boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $592,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WM shares. HSBC cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.85.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $19,804,339.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,507 shares of company stock valued at $4,157,770 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.6 %

Waste Management stock opened at $206.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.71 and a 1-year high of $214.54. The company has a market cap of $82.73 billion, a PE ratio of 36.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $206.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.43.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

Waste Management Company 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.