Sawyer & Company Inc Buys New Stake in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Sawyer & Company Inc purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,595 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $937,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in Waste Management during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Management in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Markowski Investments bought a new stake in Waste Management in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 93.5% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 180 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, CAO John Carroll sold 1,365 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total value of $300,163.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $771,629.10. This represents a 28.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WM. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $220.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $270.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $256.06.

Key Headlines Impacting Waste Management

Here are the key news stories impacting Waste Management this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Waste Management’s essential waste-collection and disposal services provide relatively resilient demand. A recent investment thesis highlights long-term growth opportunities from population and economic trends, while waste management is identified as an industry with durable demand drivers beyond the artificial-intelligence theme. Waste Management: Turn America’s Trash Into Your Treasure
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street is expecting year-over-year earnings growth in the next quarterly report. In the most recently reported quarter, WM exceeded the consensus EPS estimate, although revenue was slightly below expectations, and sales still increased 4% year over year. Waste Management Beats Stock Market Upswing
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors are assessing whether WM should be bought, held, or sold after second-quarter earnings. The shares have remained broadly range-bound around $225 since April and have lagged the S&P 500, suggesting limited near-term momentum despite the company’s defensive characteristics. Waste Management Buy, Sell, or Hold Post Q2 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Pre-earnings coverage warns that WM does not currently have the typical combination of positive earnings revisions and estimate momentum associated with a likely earnings beat. That caution may be weighing on the stock ahead of results expected next week. Waste Management Reports Next Week

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM traded down $1.67 on Wednesday, hitting $230.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 834,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,182,019. The company has a market capitalization of $91.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.91. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $194.11 and a 12 month high of $248.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $216.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.23.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 31.68%. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.12 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were given a dividend of $0.9450 per share. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 53.54%.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc, doing business as WM (NYSE:WM), is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, transportation, disposal, recycling and resource-recovery services. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers through a network of collection operations, transfer stations, landfills, recycling facilities and other environmental infrastructure.

WM’s services include curbside and commercial waste collection, construction and demolition debris management, recycling, organics processing and landfill disposal.