Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 14,000 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 394,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 14,000 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $70,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WM. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 10.3% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 28,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,371,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 57.5% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 4.8% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.4% during the third quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC now owns 128,885 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,647,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 170.7% during the third quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 4,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,860 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total transaction of $69,075.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,218 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,641.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WM shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.21.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.2 %

WM stock opened at $210.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $208.54 and its 200 day moving average is $186.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.10%.

About Waste Management

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.