Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 538,567 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.29% of Waste Management worth $7,526,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,686,203,000 after buying an additional 168,818 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after buying an additional 1,151,237 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in Waste Management by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,897,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $803,819,000 after buying an additional 25,801 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Waste Management by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,961,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $597,614,000 after buying an additional 157,082 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 693 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.59, for a total transaction of $152,868.87. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 45,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,046,109.78. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 5,826 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total value of $1,294,071.12. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,442 shares in the company, valued at $15,424,457.04. The trade was a 7.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. CIBC increased their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.65.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $224.76 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $90.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $235.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.91.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced 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 return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current 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 $0.825 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.53%.

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.