Arkadios Wealth Advisors Sells 722 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors decreased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 722 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,437,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 4,000.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in Waste Management by 892.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. General Partner Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Waste Management during the second quarter worth about $36,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WM opened at $211.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $181.56 and a one year high of $230.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $213.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.25. The company has a market cap of $85.01 billion, a PE ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.