Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $3.98 Million in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 22,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,976,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WM. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. boosted its position in Waste Management by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $592,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dfpg Investments LLC boosted its position in Waste Management by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 9,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,660,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.85.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM stock opened at $205.37 on Monday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $82.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $183.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $19,804,339.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,242 shares of company stock worth $5,929,355 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Waste Management

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.