Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 50.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,534 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. lifted its stake in Waste Management by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $592,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WM shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.85.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total transaction of $363,937.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 55,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,353,349.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total transaction of $363,937.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 55,591 shares in the company, valued at $11,353,349.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of WM stock traded up $1.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $206.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 293,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,652,769. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.71 and a 12-month high of $214.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.84 billion, a PE ratio of 36.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $206.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.57.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 53.00%.

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.