Amica Mutual Insurance Co. Has $3.81 Million Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Amica Mutual Insurance Co. cut its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,618 shares during the period. Amica Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $3,812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% in 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 buying an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,759,000 after buying an additional 28,266 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Waste Management by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its position in Waste Management by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,980,000 after acquiring an additional 4,798 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $228.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $235.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $223.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.28. 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 posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 48.53%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 4,576 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total value of $1,016,421.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,765 shares in the company, valued at $13,052,881.80. This represents a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WM. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank upped their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. CIBC increased their target price 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, 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.65.

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.