Sciencast Management LP Takes Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $780,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WM. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in Waste Management by 892.9% in the 4th 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. acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Management by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of WM opened at $224.76 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $222.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $215.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $235.81. The company has a market cap of $90.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75.

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 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%. Analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total value of $282,625.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,902,246.40. This trade represents a 12.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.65.

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.