1,650 Shares in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Bought by Capula Management Ltd

Capula Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,650 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WM. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,759,000 after buying an additional 28,266 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Waste Management by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,980,000 after acquiring an additional 4,798 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 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 Trading Down 2.2 %

Waste Management stock opened at $220.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $226.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.67. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $239.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WM. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, January 31st. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.65.

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.