Waste Management (NYSE:WM) CAO John Carroll Sells 1,365 Shares of Stock

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) CAO John Carroll sold 1,365 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total value of $300,163.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $771,629.10. This trade represents a 28.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM opened at $217.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $87.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.11 and a 1 year high of $248.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.90.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.945 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 53.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Waste Management by 26,113.1% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 121,870,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,162,461,000 after purchasing an additional 121,405,416 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,733,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,849,981,000 after purchasing an additional 535,079 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 281,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $1,972,371,000 after buying an additional 117,476 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,022,916,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Waste Management from $263.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waste Management from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $270.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $258.89.

Waste Management Company Profile

WM, Inc, formerly known as Waste Management, Inc, is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers, helping manage everyday refuse as well as certain specialized waste streams.

Its operations include curbside and commercial waste collection, transfer stations, recycling facilities, landfills and waste-related energy services. WM also develops renewable natural gas and electricity projects that capture landfill gas for use as an energy source.