Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 923 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 923 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WM. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the first quarter worth $2,570,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,661,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 34,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Magnus Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 4,670 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, KRS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 3.1% during the first quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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 research report on Thursday, May 1st. HSBC upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $265.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total value of $159,609.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This trade represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.0%

WM stock opened at $236.33 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.59 and a 1-year high of $242.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $95.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.75, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $231.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.47.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

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.