Willis Investment Counsel Takes $15.17 Million Position in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Willis Investment Counsel bought a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 69,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,165,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,436,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,487,924,000 after acquiring an additional 774,255 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 5.1% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,668,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,250,613,000 after acquiring an additional 277,250 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 0.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,954,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $873,276,000 after acquiring an additional 11,688 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,530,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $781,494,000 after acquiring an additional 236,439 shares during the period. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 12.6% during the third quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 3,262,148 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $720,380,000 after acquiring an additional 364,512 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Waste Management in a report on Friday, March 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on Waste Management from $266.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Waste Management from $270.00 to $263.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Waste Management from $263.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Waste Management from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 30,390 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.36, for a total value of $7,000,640.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 225,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,013,675.48. The trade was a 11.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael J. Watson sold 17,251 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.81, for a total value of $4,171,464.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 44,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,674,944.26. This trade represents a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 98,042 shares of company stock valued at $23,039,777 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $231.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $232.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.67. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.11 and a 1 year high of $248.13. The company has a market capitalization of $93.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The business services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). Waste Management had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 10.74%.The firm had revenue of $6.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $0.945 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.42%.

About Waste Management

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.