Clune & Associates LTD. Buys New Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Clune & Associates LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $501,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after buying an additional 538,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,686,203,000 after purchasing an additional 168,818 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,897,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $803,819,000 after purchasing an additional 25,801 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM opened at $224.76 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.38 billion, a PE ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $235.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $222.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.91. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors 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 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 1.47%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WM. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total value of $4,303,870.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,257 shares in the company, valued at $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,129 shares in the company, valued at $1,349,728.38. The trade was a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.