Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Purchased by Gotham Asset Management LLC

Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 72.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,009,726,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $340,611,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,184,905 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 valued at $7,526,823,000 after acquiring an additional 538,567 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:WM opened at $229.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $92.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $221.63. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $239.32.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company’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. Equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James lifted 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 5,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.51, for a total transaction of $1,304,087.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 55,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,646,598.37. The trade was a 9.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total value of $282,625.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,522 shares of company stock valued at $18,084,124 over the last quarter. Company 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.