48,193 Shares in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Bought by Fundsmith Investment Services LTD.

Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. purchased a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 48,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,725,000. Waste Management makes up about 0.1% of Fundsmith Investment Services LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 3,094 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.11, for a total transaction of $705,772.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 53,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,241,066.93. The trade was a 5.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,522 shares of company stock worth $18,987,684 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the subject of several research reports. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.29.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $235.56 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $228.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.79. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $239.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

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.