Pacific Point Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Pacific Point Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WM. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 101.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 133 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $233.08 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $232.84 and its 200-day moving average is $221.60. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $194.11 and a 12 month high of $248.13. The firm has a market cap of $93.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The business services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). Waste Management had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 10.74%.The business had revenue of $6.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.945 dividend. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $263.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $273.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $270.00 to $263.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 30,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.36, for a total value of $7,000,640.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 225,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,013,675.48. This trade represents a 11.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO John J. Morris sold 7,979 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.07, for a total transaction of $1,955,413.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,656 shares in the company, valued at $24,177,625.92. The trade was a 7.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 98,042 shares of company stock worth $23,039,777 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.