Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC Buys 465 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $661,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 24.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 67,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,427,000 after buying an additional 13,193 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Waste Management by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 55,212 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,779,000 after purchasing an additional 4,749 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in Waste Management by 2.2% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 60,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,801,000 after buying an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 3.5% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 72,559 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,480,000 after buying an additional 2,441 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.9% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management 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 value of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus increased their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of WM opened at $211.79 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $211.22. The company has a market cap of $85.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 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. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.