Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 16,628 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 199,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,628 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $40,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,135,000 after buying an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 77.4% in the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,553,000 after purchasing an additional 5,367 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Waste Management by 6.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,759,000 after purchasing an additional 28,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.94.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.2 %

WM opened at $229.07 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $213.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.69, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week 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 data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 44.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,446.72. This represents a 5.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,349,728.38. This represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,055 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,340 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Company 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.