Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 11,691 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 187,640 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,691 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $43,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 7,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake 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 worth $2,698,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 0.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 609 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of WM stock opened at $233.94 on Tuesday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $242.58. The company has a market capitalization of $94.14 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $231.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $223.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released 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. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WM shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. HSBC raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. CIBC upped their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $263.00 price target for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.00.

Waste Management 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.