Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 169 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $730,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its stake in Waste Management by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 14,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,632,000 after buying an additional 936 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 681.6% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 73,576 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,177,000 after purchasing an additional 64,162 shares during the period. Tobam increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 59.3% in the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 9,204 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425 shares during the period. Finally, PBMares Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $215,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Erste Group Bank raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.85.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.3 %

Waste Management stock opened at $205.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $461,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,080,935.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $461,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,080,935.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total value of $363,937.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 55,591 shares in the company, valued at $11,353,349.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,242 shares of company stock valued at $5,929,355 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.