Beacon Financial Group Sells 1,677 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Beacon Financial Group cut its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,677 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Group’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $5,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,384,000 after acquiring an additional 2,320 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,429,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 1,293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Waste Management by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cassia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 35.8% during the 4th quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,639 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. This represents a 18.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,966 shares of company stock valued at $18,486,402. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective 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. HSBC upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.06.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM stock opened at $239.07 on Thursday. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $242.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $231.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $96.20 billion, a PE ratio of 35.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.77%.

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.