Swiss National Bank Sells 1,800 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,131,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $262,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 124,848 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,193,000 after purchasing an additional 15,974 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 70,488 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,224,000 after purchasing an additional 7,453 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 26,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,387,000 after buying an additional 4,237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Yale Capital Corp. purchased a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth approximately $210,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. National Bank Financial upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 26th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.35.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.6%

WM stock opened at $233.05 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $230.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $228.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.69 and a 52-week high of $242.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 34.37% and a net margin of 11.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 48.96%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total value of $159,609.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,917,311.02. This trade represents a 3.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.