Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 45,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,631 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $8,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Waste Management by 1.9% in the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 62,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,520,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 96,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,741,000 after acquiring an additional 8,000 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% during the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,835,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Kennedy Investment Group raised its holdings in Waste Management by 3.1% during the third quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 3,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $609,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WM. Raymond James increased their target price on Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.24.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.3 %

WM opened at $207.88 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $188.30. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The firm has a market cap of $83.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.02, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

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.