M Holdings Securities Inc. Sells 156 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

M Holdings Securities Inc. cut its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM – Get Rating) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 156 shares during the quarter. M Holdings Securities Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $455,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,984,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,925,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,798 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 194.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,217,592 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $192,988,000 after acquiring an additional 804,708 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 3,120.2% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 600,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $96,197,000 after acquiring an additional 581,797 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 18.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,194,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $482,604,000 after acquiring an additional 504,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 21.5% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,605,293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $417,394,000 after acquiring an additional 461,425 shares in the last quarter. 78.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WM shares. Raymond James lowered their price target on Waste Management from $167.00 to $166.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $185.00 to $171.00 in a report on Monday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Waste Management from $157.00 to $151.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Waste Management from $167.00 to $158.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.50.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $155.06 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $152.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $159.30. The stock has a market cap of $63.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $138.89 and a 52 week high of $175.98.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.97 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 32.91% and a net margin of 11.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.95%.

Waste Management announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 8th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $31,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 64,317 shares in the company, valued at $9,969,135. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 15,204 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.03, for a total transaction of $2,357,076.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $14,799,318.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $31,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 64,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,969,135. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,027 shares of company stock worth $4,806,619 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Profile

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Waste Management, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of waste management environmental services. It operates through the following segments: East Tier, West Tier, and Other. The East Tier segment consists of Eastern U.S., the Great Lakes Region, and Canada. The West Tier segment includes the upper Midwest region and British Columbia, Canada.