LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Increases Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,100 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $5,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WM. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Waste Management by 67.2% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 14.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 11.3% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 8,581 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 9.7% in the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 6,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. grew its holdings in Waste Management by 18.4% in the third quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. now owns 1,319 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WM. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the 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 directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,999,506.30. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,192 shares of company stock worth $15,025,861. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 1.4 %

WM opened at $232.83 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.59 and a 1-year high of $233.13. The company has a market capitalization of $93.63 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.02.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.53%.

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.