Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Reduces Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 375,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,267 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $80,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Waste Management by 26.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 264,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,255,000 after purchasing an additional 55,075 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $810,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,454,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WM. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.39.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total value of $859,610.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,324,156.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael J. Watson sold 1,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $330,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 44,144 shares in the company, valued at $9,711,680. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.1 %

WM stock traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $222.80. 1,221,059 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,509,656. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.71 and a fifty-two week high of $225.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $209.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $203.70. The company has a market capitalization of $89.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.46, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.10%.

Waste Management 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.