Spire Wealth Management Trims Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Spire Wealth Management decreased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,492 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 398 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 534.5% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 53,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,411,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.6% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 358,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,842,000 after buying an additional 2,309 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 83.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 680 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 44.8% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 33,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,234,000 after purchasing an additional 10,212 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 5,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total transaction of $925,876.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 171,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,573,336. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 5,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total transaction of $925,876.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 171,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,573,336. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 4,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total value of $716,724.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 177,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,499,212. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Waste Management from $160.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Waste Management from $204.00 to $202.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Waste Management from $160.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. HSBC initiated coverage on Waste Management in a report on Friday, September 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $192.00 price target for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Waste Management from $181.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.77.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $171.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.94 billion, a PE ratio of 30.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.31 and a 52-week high of $173.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $160.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $163.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.27 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 11.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 5.96 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 30th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.56%.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of environmental solutions to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services, including picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility (MRF), or disposal site; and owns and operates transfer stations, as well as owns, develops, and operates landfill facilities that produce landfill gas used as renewable natural gas for generating electricity.