Waste Management, Inc. $WM Position Cut by Covea Finance

Covea Finance lowered its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 233,353 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 23,748 shares during the period. Waste Management makes up 1.8% of Covea Finance’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Covea Finance owned approximately 0.06% of Waste Management worth $51,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WM. Trium Capital LLP grew its position in Waste Management by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Trium Capital LLP now owns 8,154 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 2,124 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 11.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 122,573 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,068,000 after acquiring an additional 12,260 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the third quarter. Busey Bank now owns 3,254 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 0.4% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 35,568 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,854,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Friday, November 14th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $238.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $252.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $256.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $238.00 to $242.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Waste Management from $271.00 to $266.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.95.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $221.39 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.11 and a 1 year high of $242.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $211.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $220.73. The company has a market cap of $89.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $1.98 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $6.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 1,380 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,373,112.40. This trade represents a 8.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.