Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Has $208,000 Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 43.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,164 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 912 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WM. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 110,208.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,778,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $749,659,000 after purchasing an additional 4,774,218 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $658,370,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Management by 153.4% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,694,489 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $640,698,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236,280 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Waste Management by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,370,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,156,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,718,449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management by 17,627.7% in the 2nd quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,401,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $140,120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393,296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. HSBC cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total value of $153,899.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,934,010.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total value of $153,899.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.5 %

WM stock opened at $205.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.23, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.71 and a 1-year high of $214.54. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $206.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.57.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.00%.

About Waste Management

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.