Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,479 shares during the quarter. Waste Management accounts for approximately 3.0% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $13,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $1,265,629,000 after buying an additional 1,151,237 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $1,009,726,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Management by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,076,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $822,588,000 after acquiring an additional 224,279 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $229.00 target price on shares of Waste Management in a report on Thursday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $251.00.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.6%

WM stock opened at $228.14 on Monday. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $242.58. The company has a market capitalization of $91.81 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $233.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $224.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.67% and a return on equity of 35.67%. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.77%.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of Waste Management 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. The trade was a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. The trade was 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.

Waste Management Company Profile

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.