Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Purchased by Twin Capital Management Inc.

Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,363 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 651 shares during the quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,370,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,156,281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718,449 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,366,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $827,815,000 after purchasing an additional 776,491 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,213,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $794,174,000 after purchasing an additional 66,816 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,112,019 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $801,972,000 after purchasing an additional 160,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 110,208.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,778,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $749,659,000 after purchasing an additional 4,774,218 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.85.

Waste Management Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $207.12 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54. The stock has a market cap of $83.12 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s fifty day moving average is $207.30 and its 200-day moving average is $184.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total value of $363,937.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 55,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,353,349.93. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waste Management 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.