Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Acquires 9,325 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 92,095 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,325 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $20,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Old Port Advisors grew its stake in Waste Management by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 16,963 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,727,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 3,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $851,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 801 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Mendel Money Management grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.8% in the third quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 2,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canton Hathaway LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.5% in the third quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC now owns 9,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,130,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on WM. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group raised Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $232.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 7,352 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.50, for a total transaction of $1,724,044.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,540 shares in the company, valued at $3,644,130. This trade represents a 32.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 44,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,674,944.26. The trade was a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 98,042 shares of company stock worth $23,039,777 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $225.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $90.78 billion, a PE ratio of 33.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $194.11 and a 52 week high of $248.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $232.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.80.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The business services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). Waste Management had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company had revenue of $6.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.945 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.42%.

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.