Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Buys 438 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 69.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP. increased its stake in Waste Management by 1.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% in the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $592,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. HSBC downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 target price for the company. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.85.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 3,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.49, for a total value of $653,329.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,403 shares in the company, valued at $7,262,034.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $205.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $82.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.57. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54.

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

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 53.00%.

Waste Management 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.