Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases 348 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,755 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $3,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management grew its position in Waste Management by 4,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 892.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. General Partner Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WM. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, CIBC raised their target price on Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Ten 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $211.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $180.25 and a one year high of $230.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $214.24 and a 200 day moving average of $211.23.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.87%.

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.