Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Holdings Boosted by Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 72.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FCA Corp TX lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. FCA Corp TX now owns 5,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.61.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total transaction of $1,844,111.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,390,951. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $210.07. The stock had a trading volume of 277,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,653,574. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.25 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.27. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.71 and a fifty-two week high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.