Wolverine Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 5,000 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $896,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,272 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,455,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 93.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,348,000 after buying an additional 22,455 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 13,927.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,319,000 after buying an additional 500,701 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $212.65 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $208.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.50. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.71 and a 1-year high of $214.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.34 billion, a PE ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 11.98%. Waste Management’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 3,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.49, for a total value of $653,329.75. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,262,034.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on WM shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.15.

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.