KWB Wealth Sells 227 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

KWB Wealth cut its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 227 shares during the period. KWB Wealth’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,053 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 9,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $210.20. The company had a trading volume of 720,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,702,207. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The firm has a market cap of $84.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $208.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $200.54. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted 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 company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. Waste Management’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total transaction of $859,610.24. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,324,156.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.61.

About Waste Management

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.