Quent Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 11.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Waste Management by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 7,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 11,655 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,698,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 609 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total value of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,995,045.36. This trade represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 87,947 shares of company stock worth $20,536,508. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $241.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50 day moving average is $230.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.79. 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 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $241.68.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WM. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. National Bank Financial raised Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, CIBC increased 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.06.

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.