Advisor Resource Council Invests $384,000 in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,657 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $384,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Segment Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 1,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1,486.7% during the 1st quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC now owns 39,573 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,162,000 after purchasing an additional 37,079 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 680 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, River Street Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 1st quarter valued at about $337,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. HSBC upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target 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. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $231.94 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $233.07 and a 200-day moving average of $224.04. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.59 and a 1-year high of $242.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65. The company has a market cap of $93.34 billion, a PE ratio of 34.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.67% and a return on equity of 35.67%. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.