Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Koshinski Asset Management Inc.

Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 129 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 8,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,935 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $344,000. Corundum Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 58.3% in the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 8,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,806,000 after buying an additional 3,297 shares in the last quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,309,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares during the period. Finally, M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth $290,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $834,946.25. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.4 %

WM stock opened at $211.79 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $213.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $181.56 and a one year high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 45.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus boosted their price target on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.72.

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.