Wealthfront Advisers LLC Acquires 19,869 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 31.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,755 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,869 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $19,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,990,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,566,508,000 after buying an additional 553,605 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,390,748 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,820,921,000 after acquiring an additional 281,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,993,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,972,371,000 after acquiring an additional 117,476 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,022,916,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,954,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $873,276,000 after purchasing an additional 11,688 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on WM. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Waste Management from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $244.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $256.70.

Waste Management Price Performance

Waste Management stock opened at $242.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $97.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $221.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.41. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $194.11 and a one year high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.06. Waste Management had a return on equity of 31.90% and a net margin of 10.99%.The company had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.67 EPS. Waste Management’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 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.945 per share. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.