Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 311 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $15,741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 170.5% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 119 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sachetta LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on WM. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $9,324,156.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE WM traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $209.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 444,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,722,439. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.00. The stock has a market cap of $83.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

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

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.10%.

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.