Prana Capital Management LP Sells 65,475 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Prana Capital Management LP cut its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 95.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,776 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 65,475 shares during the quarter. Prana Capital Management LP’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth about $1,009,726,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $340,611,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 250.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,658,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,905 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,237 shares during the period. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $205,506,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.29.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $222.07 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $89.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $239.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $228.22 and its 200 day moving average is $221.38.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. This trade represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 4,126 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.11, for a total value of $941,181.86. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,639 shares in the company, valued at $14,288,582.29. This trade represents a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 79,522 shares of company stock worth $18,084,124. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.