Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Has $116.17 Million Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lowered its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 575,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 26,975 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $116,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on WM. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.29.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE WM opened at $233.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $228.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $220.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $239.32.

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

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. 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 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 49.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $10,143,434.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at $48,212,664.23. This represents a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael J. Watson sold 5,732 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.51, for a total value of $1,304,087.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 55,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,646,598.37. This trade represents a 9.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 79,522 shares of company stock worth $18,084,124. Corporate 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.