Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 57,740 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 347 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $10,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC increased 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 in the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. raised its position in Waste Management by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. raised its position in Waste Management by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its position in Waste Management by 1.7% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. HSBC lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 target price for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.85.

Waste Management Stock Up 1.0 %

WM traded up $2.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $209.55. The company had a trading volume of 344,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,645,941. The company has a market cap of $84.09 billion, a PE ratio of 36.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $207.69 and a 200-day moving average of $185.78. 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.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 53.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $19,804,339.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total value of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.