Tradewinds LLC. Has $759,000 Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Tradewinds LLC. reduced its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 56 shares during the quarter. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in Waste Management by 892.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. General Partner Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WM. Scotiabank raised their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total value of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,995,045.36. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of Waste Management 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM opened at $231.73 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $224.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.79. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.59 and a 1-year high of $235.81. The company has a market cap of $93.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.08, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) 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 37.93%. On average, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 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.