Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC cut its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 230,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,233 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $46,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 4,000.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its position in Waste Management by 892.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. General Partner Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Waste Management in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WM shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $208.30. The stock had a trading volume of 68,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,534,771. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.61 billion, a PE ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.25. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $180.25 and a twelve month 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.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.87%.

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.