ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Purchases 400 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 22.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after acquiring an additional 520,096 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,523,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $969,401,000 after acquiring an additional 12,664 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after acquiring an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,846,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $820,539,000 after acquiring an additional 243,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WM shares. CIBC upped their target price on Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.72.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $207.02 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $214.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.65, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $177.83 and a fifty-two week high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.87%.

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.