Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 2,330 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,330 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $7,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,662,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,617,866,000 after purchasing an additional 292,868 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,647,146 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,972,856,000 after buying an additional 126,329 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,390,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,232,131,000 after buying an additional 74,528 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,064,206,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,596,281 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $804,809,000 after acquiring an additional 284,733 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on WM. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Waste Management from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, November 14th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $238.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Waste Management from $271.00 to $266.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.77.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $220.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $89.02 billion, a PE ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $213.84 and a 200-day moving average of $219.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $194.11 and a one year high of $242.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its 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 net margin of 10.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The business had revenue of $6.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 1,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.06, for a total value of $299,542.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,540 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.