Beacon Financial Group Sells 643 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Beacon Financial Group decreased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 643 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Group’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $5,475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WM. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,127 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Management by 77.4% in the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after purchasing an additional 5,367 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Management by 6.2% in the third 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 period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 32.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 4,576 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,016,421.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,052,881.80. The trade was a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total value of $46,094.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,055 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,340. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on WM shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.50.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $226.78 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $211.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.53. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $187.48 and a one year high of $230.39. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $91.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.78.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its 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 return on equity of 38.88% and a net margin of 12.45%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 44.12%.

Waste Management 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.