Tower Bridge Advisors Lowers Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Tower Bridge Advisors decreased its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,969 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 53 shares during the quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Waste Management were worth $4,231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,686,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,961,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $597,614,000 after buying an additional 157,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,175,000 after buying an additional 276,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,129 shares in the company, valued at $1,349,728.38. This trade represents a 3.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at $48,212,664.23. This represents a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,192 shares of company stock worth $15,025,861 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WM. Citigroup upped their price objective on Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.94.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $232.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $93.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $215.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.89. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $233.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

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.