Vicus Capital Invests $295,000 in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Vicus Capital bought a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth $784,486,000. Mirova US LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 26,116.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 913,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $163,680,000 after purchasing an additional 910,418 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Waste Management by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,923,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $523,581,000 after purchasing an additional 844,298 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management in the first quarter worth $117,299,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 500,701 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total transaction of $859,610.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 45,644 shares in the company, valued at $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM stock opened at $213.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $85.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.61.

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.