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

Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 5,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,135,000 after buying an additional 2,127 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Waste Management by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Management by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,759,000 after purchasing an additional 28,266 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,980,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WM shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. CIBC lifted their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. This represents a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.89, for a total value of $903,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,185,967.59. This represents a 17.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,522 shares of company stock worth $18,987,684 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $234.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $239.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $228.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.59.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.825 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.77%.

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.