Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $94.53 Million Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 468,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,078 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $94,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after buying an additional 709,678 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 32.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 434 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,567 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its position in Waste Management by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 7,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,468,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 14,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,919,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WM shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Argus raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.94.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $228.38 on Wednesday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $230.39. The firm has a market cap of $91.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.59, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $212.32 and a 200-day moving average of $212.45.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 38.88%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 44.12%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,152 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,446.72. The trade was a 5.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,349,728.38. This trade represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,055 shares of company stock worth $3,578,340. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.