Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 176,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,325 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $35,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. GTS Securities LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 116.1% in the fourth quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 3,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 22,633 shares during the period. Breed s Hill Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 57.6% in the fourth quarter. Breed s Hill Capital LLC now owns 2,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 54.8% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 4,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $993,000 after buying an additional 1,742 shares in the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 3,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 727 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Management Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:WM opened at $237.01 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $239.32. The stock has a market cap of $95.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $229.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.24.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WM. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. HSBC raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Eight equities research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 4,126 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.11, for a total transaction of $941,181.86. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,288,582.29. The trade was a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total value of $4,303,870.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34% 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 worth $18,084,124 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.