1,000 Shares in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Purchased by Millstone Evans Group LLC

Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $340,611,000. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in Waste Management by 67.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after acquiring an additional 709,678 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Waste Management by 138.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 718,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,168,000 after acquiring an additional 416,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,668,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.65.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total value of $282,625.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $224.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $235.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $222.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.86. The firm has a market cap of $90.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

Waste Management Company 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.