Waste Management, Inc. $WM Shares Sold by Conning Inc.

Conning Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 10.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,162 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $4,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Management by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,990,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,566,508,000 after buying an additional 553,605 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,390,748 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,820,921,000 after acquiring an additional 281,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,993,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,972,371,000 after acquiring an additional 117,476 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,668,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,250,613,000 after acquiring an additional 277,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,022,916,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Waste Management from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, March 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $273.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $256.20.

Waste Management Price Performance

Waste Management stock opened at $233.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $220.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $225.93. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $194.11 and a 12-month high of $248.13. The stock has a market cap of $93.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.44.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 10.99% and a return on equity of 31.90%. Waste Management’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.945 dividend. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.70%.

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.