Sapient Capital LLC Invests $17.04 Million in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 95,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,038,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,407,000 after purchasing an additional 2,272 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 5.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,455,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 93.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,348,000 after acquiring an additional 22,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,319,000 after acquiring an additional 500,701 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.24.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,804,339.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM traded up $0.72 during trading on Friday, hitting $207.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,237,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,702,229. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $208.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 49.10%.

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.