Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. decreased its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 203 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WM. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 8.5% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,407,000 after buying an additional 2,272 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,319,000 after buying an additional 500,701 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 93.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,348,000 after buying an additional 22,455 shares during the period. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WM. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.61.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $213.34. 2,908,229 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,972,412. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $208.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $199.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.71 and a 52-week high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total value of $859,610.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,324,156.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.