Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Raises Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 780 shares during the quarter. Waste Management accounts for 1.1% of Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $24,870,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WM. abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 315.7% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,457,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $222,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,773 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 26,116.4% during the 4th quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 913,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $163,680,000 after purchasing an additional 910,418 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,366,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $827,815,000 after purchasing an additional 776,491 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 128.2% during the 3rd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 898,796 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $137,012,000 after purchasing an additional 504,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,319,000 after purchasing an additional 500,701 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. HSBC lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Waste Management stock traded down $1.74 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $210.96. 808,817 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,660,330. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.71 and a fifty-two week high of $214.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 11.98%. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.10%.

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.