Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 13,404 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 446,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,404 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Waste Management worth $99,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 worth $8,566,508,000 after buying an additional 553,605 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Waste Management by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,390,748 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,820,921,000 after acquiring an additional 281,456 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,993,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,972,371,000 after acquiring an additional 117,476 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth $1,022,916,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Waste Management by 0.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,954,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $873,276,000 after purchasing an additional 11,688 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered shares of Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $270.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Waste Management from $264.00 to $263.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Waste Management from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $258.89.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $223.95 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $227.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $227.81. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $194.11 and a 12 month high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same quarter last 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 forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.14 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Company Profile

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.