Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $436.99 Million Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,104,963 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25,553 shares during the period. Waste Management comprises about 3.0% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $436,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Waste Management by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 532,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $113,571,000 after buying an additional 18,429 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Waste Management in the first quarter worth $894,000. Sweeney & Michel LLC bought a new position in Waste Management in the first quarter valued at $210,000. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management during the first quarter valued at about $1,298,000. Finally, Vancity Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd now owns 58,319 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,430,000 after purchasing an additional 2,145 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $224.41 on Monday. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $168.73 and a one year high of $226.84. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $212.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.07 billion, a PE ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 45.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WM shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.11.

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.