Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. Sells 99 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. reduced its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,981 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 99 shares during the quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $538,013,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588,842 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 520,096 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 32.1% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $374,062,000 after buying an additional 437,613 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 138.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 718,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,168,000 after buying an additional 416,579 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $211.79 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $213.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $181.56 and a 12 month high of $230.39. The company has a market cap of $85.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.72.

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.