Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Daymark Wealth Partners LLC

Daymark Wealth Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 269 shares during the quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $1,686,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 520,096 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,523,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $969,401,000 after buying an additional 12,664 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 6.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,846,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $820,539,000 after acquiring an additional 243,900 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.6 %

WM stock opened at $211.57 on Thursday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $183.00 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. The company has a market cap of $84.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $213.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.29.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 45.87%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company 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.