Holocene Advisors LP Acquires New Shares in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 531,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $121,560,000. Holocene Advisors LP owned approximately 0.13% of Waste Management as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WM. McAdam LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.1% in the first quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,482 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Waste Management by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co grew its holdings in Waste Management by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 4,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $943,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. KWB Wealth increased its position in Waste Management by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. KWB Wealth now owns 3,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, D.B. Root & Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.0% during the second quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WM. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Waste Management from $264.00 to $254.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $262.00 price objective on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Waste Management in a report on Friday, November 14th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $238.00 target price on the stock. National Bankshares lowered their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $243.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.14.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $215.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.58. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $194.11 and a twelve month high of $242.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $211.26 and a 200-day moving average of $221.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.03). Waste Management had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 10.35%.The company had revenue of $6.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 1,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.06, for a total transaction of $299,542.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 15,540 shares in the company, valued at $3,373,112.40. The trade was a 8.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.