Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Acquired by Fiduciary Trust Co

Fiduciary Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,423 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,029 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after acquiring an additional 538,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,654,173,000 after purchasing an additional 64,260 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after buying an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,009,726,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Management by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,076,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $822,588,000 after buying an additional 224,279 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on 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, Hsbc Global Res raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.29.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $233.03 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $228.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.09. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $239.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $93.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 49.77%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total value of $282,625.92. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,902,246.40. This represents a 12.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total value of $29,135.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. This represents a 1.44 % 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 valued at $18,084,124. Corporate 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.