Hurley Capital LLC Buys Shares of 168 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 168 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after buying an additional 538,567 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,654,173,000 after purchasing an additional 64,260 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,237 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at $1,009,726,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of several research reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.59, for a total transaction of $152,868.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,046,109.78. This represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 5,826 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total value of $1,294,071.12. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,442 shares in the company, valued at $15,424,457.04. The trade was a 7.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE WM opened at $225.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $90.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $226.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.45. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $239.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced 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 return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. On average, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

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.