KWB Wealth Has $717,000 Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

KWB Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 26.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the period. KWB Wealth’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Trium Capital LLP increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 33.6% in the 3rd quarter. Trium Capital LLP now owns 12,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,498,000 after buying an additional 3,029 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 77.4% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after buying an additional 5,367 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,759,000 after buying an additional 28,266 shares during the period. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 417.3% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 3,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $720,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $207.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $83.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $214.62 and its 200-day moving average is $211.29. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $180.17 and a one year 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 45.87%.

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.