CoreCap Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,135,000 after buying an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,759,000 after acquiring an additional 28,266 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,980,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 1,869,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $377,184,000 after purchasing an additional 11,940 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WM. Hsbc Global Res raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.29.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $233.03 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $239.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company has a market cap of $93.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Waste Management’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total value of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,995,045.36. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. This represents a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 79,522 shares of company stock worth $18,084,124. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.