UMB Bank n.a. Sells 556 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

UMB Bank n.a. decreased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 45,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 556 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $9,188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WM. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $538,013,000 after buying an additional 2,588,842 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 11.3% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after purchasing an additional 520,096 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Management by 32.1% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $374,062,000 after purchasing an additional 437,613 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Waste Management by 138.0% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 718,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,168,000 after purchasing an additional 416,579 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WM. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $211.79 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $213.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.25. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $181.56 and a 1 year high of $230.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.87%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.