TD Private Client Wealth LLC Lowers Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC lowered its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,682 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 180 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 9.8% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,557,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 31.7% during the third quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,925 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nwam LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 21.4% during the third quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 4,466 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.65.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of WM opened at $224.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $235.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $222.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $215.86.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 48.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. This represents a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,349,728.38. This trade represents a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.