Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Legacy Bridge LLC

Legacy Bridge LLC decreased its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,669 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 165 shares during the quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 2.1% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $1,063,072,000 after purchasing an additional 520,096 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $538,013,000 after buying an additional 2,588,842 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Waste Management by 12.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,175,000 after acquiring an additional 276,287 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday. CIBC boosted 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.39.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $213.46 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $212.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.67 billion, a PE ratio of 32.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $184.72 and a fifty-two week high of $230.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 45.87%.

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.