Insider Selling: Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Director Sells $66,795.70 in Stock

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $220.44 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $209.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.06. The company has a market cap of $88.48 billion, a PE ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $168.73 and a fifty-two week high of $225.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.87%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Management

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its position in Waste Management by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 9,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,894 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Waste Management by 321.6% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 88,792 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,433,000 after purchasing an additional 67,732 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 1,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,549,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. William Blair initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on 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, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.11.

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.