Waste Management, Inc. $WM Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 33.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,626 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $5,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth about $1,022,916,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 279.0% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,075,906 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $236,387,000 after buying an additional 792,037 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Waste Management by 23,051.5% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 770,945 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,716,000 after buying an additional 767,615 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 3,209.2% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 681,366 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $150,466,000 after buying an additional 660,776 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,990,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,566,508,000 after acquiring an additional 553,605 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of WM stock opened at $224.70 on Thursday. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $194.11 and a fifty-two week high of $248.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $226.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.04. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 31.68%. The company had revenue of $6.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.945 dividend. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $273.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Waste Management from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $263.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.89.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.