Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich Purchases 82 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich boosted its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,177 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,203,000 after purchasing an additional 168,818 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after buying an additional 520,096 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in 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 buying an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $538,013,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,175,000 after acquiring an additional 276,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.50.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.3 %

WM stock opened at $226.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $211.85 and its 200 day moving average is $211.53. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.48 and a 12 month 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 announced 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 return on equity of 38.88% and a net margin of 12.45%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.12%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total transaction of $46,094.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.59, for a total value of $152,868.87. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,046,109.78. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,055 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,340 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.