Patten & Patten Inc. TN Purchases 58 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN raised its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 58 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WM. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after buying an additional 709,678 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,561 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the third quarter valued at about $249,000. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 13.4% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 3,197 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 27.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 62,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,002,000 after buying an additional 13,604 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.59, for a total value of $152,868.87. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,046,109.78. This trade represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.65.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $228.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $91.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $215.47. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $235.81.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.