Insigneo Advisory Services LLC Sells 87 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Insigneo Advisory Services LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Management by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after buying an additional 538,567 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,654,173,000 after purchasing an additional 64,260 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,237 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $1,009,726,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WM. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,349,728.38. This trade represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total value of $4,303,870.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. This represents a 18.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $229.58 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $239.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. As a group, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 48.53%.

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.