Sentry Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 249 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WM. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Waste Management by 67.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after buying an additional 709,678 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the third quarter valued at approximately $366,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 8.9% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 86,096 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,874,000 after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 140.9% during the third quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 2,361 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Finally, Orrstown Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Waste Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $643,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $230.59 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $214.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.47. The company has a market cap of $92.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $232.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. On average, equities analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on WM. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target 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. Argus upped their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 4,576 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total value of $1,016,421.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,052,881.80. This represents a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of Waste Management 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 have sold a total of 66,192 shares of company stock valued at $15,025,861 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.