Rexford Capital Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,898 Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,898 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,121,000. Waste Management accounts for about 0.9% of Rexford Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WM. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in Waste Management by 3.2% during the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 412,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $94,505,000 after purchasing an additional 12,669 shares during the period. Nikulski Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 13,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,999,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 19,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,454,000 after buying an additional 5,244 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,571,000. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Waste Management by 2.5% in the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 1,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.06, for a total value of $299,542.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,373,112.40. This trade represents a 8.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $215.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $211.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.84. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $194.11 and a fifty-two week high of $242.58. The firm has a market cap of $86.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $6.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.51 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 10.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict 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, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 51.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on WM. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Robert W. Baird raised Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $238.00 to $242.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.14.

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.