Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 59 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Waste Management by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,203,000 after buying an additional 168,818 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 520,096 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings 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 worth $854,446,000 after acquiring an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,588,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in Waste Management by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,175,000 after purchasing an additional 276,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM opened at $213.46 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $212.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market cap of $85.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $184.72 and a 12 month high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during 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%. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 45.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on WM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.39.

Waste Management 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.