Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Grows Position in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,384 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $10,437,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $10,206,000. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its stake in Waste Management by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 196,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,192,000 after acquiring an additional 3,880 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 333.1% during the 4th quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 8,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,855,000 after acquiring an additional 6,493 shares during the period. Goodman Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,898,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 793,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $173,774,000 after purchasing an additional 104,843 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on WM. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Waste Management from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Waste Management from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Friday, March 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.30.

Waste Management Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $219.04 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.75. The firm has a market cap of $87.96 billion, a PE ratio of 31.70, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.45. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.11 and a 1 year high of $248.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.06. Waste Management had a net margin of 10.99% and a return on equity of 31.90%. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.945 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 54.70%.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.