UMB Bank n.a. Acquires 12,740 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 28.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,272 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,740 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $13,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WM. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 7,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,520,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 11,655 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,698,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 609 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on WM. UBS Group lifted their target price on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 26th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.06.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of WM opened at $236.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $242.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $231.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.47. The firm has a market cap of $95.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.75, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.