Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Purchases Shares of 3,438 Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,438 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $759,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Management in the second quarter valued at $1,064,206,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 444.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,206,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $487,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800,728 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 15,782.4% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,728,486 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $395,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717,603 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its holdings in Waste Management by 55.5% in the second quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 2,897,636 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $663,037,000 after buying an additional 1,034,258 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Waste Management by 982.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 886,164 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $195,692,000 after buying an additional 804,285 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Friday, November 14th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $238.00 price objective on the stock. Baird R W raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 1,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.06, for a total value of $299,542.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,540 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,373,112.40. This trade represents a 8.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $221.03 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $89.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.58. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.11 and a 1 year high of $242.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $211.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.03). Waste Management had a net margin of 10.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The firm had revenue of $6.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 51.97%.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.