State Street Corp Acquires 281,456 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,390,748 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 281,456 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 4.31% of Waste Management worth $3,820,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 196,032 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,070,000 after acquiring an additional 44,633 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 121.8% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 22,214 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,881,000 after purchasing an additional 12,199 shares during the period. First National Bank of Omaha increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Omaha now owns 23,098 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,929 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 78,129 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,442 shares during the period. Finally, Alchemi Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth approximately $226,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Waste Management from $273.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, March 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $255.30.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $219.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.68. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.11 and a 1 year high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.06. Waste Management had a net margin of 10.99% and a return on equity of 31.90%. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.67 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.945 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.70%.

Waste Management Profile

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.