Robeco Schweiz AG Invests $60.67 Million in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Robeco Schweiz AG purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 300,647 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $60,668,000. Waste Management comprises 1.3% of Robeco Schweiz AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nwam LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 6,286 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,820 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Impact Investors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $887,000. National Pension Service increased its stake in Waste Management by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 812,992 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,054,000 after acquiring an additional 45,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fjell Capital LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth $1,124,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WM. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total value of $46,094.95. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. This trade represents a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,192 shares of company stock worth $15,025,861. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $228.64 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.58. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $232.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $91.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

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.