Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC Sells 983 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 983 shares during the quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $6,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WM. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in Waste Management by 892.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. General Partner Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on WM. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, January 31st. CIBC upped their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.65.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM opened at $220.22 on Tuesday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.59 and a 12 month 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $226.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.67. The company has a market cap of $88.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. This trade represents a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.