Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 615 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 615 shares during the quarter. Waste Management accounts for about 1.4% of Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $7,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 4,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 892.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. General Partner Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Waste Management Trading Up 6.2 %

WM opened at $222.57 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $184.72 and a 1-year high of $230.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.33 billion, a PE ratio of 32.73, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.77. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $212.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.36.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.88% and a net margin of 12.45%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Scotiabank raised shares of Waste Management from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $225.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, CIBC raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average 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.