D.B. Root & Company LLC Purchases 150 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

D.B. Root & Company LLC lifted its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,342 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 150 shares during the quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,799,687 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $859,624,000 after purchasing an additional 16,213 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at $784,486,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,226,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $900,957,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,466 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,997,367 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $357,729,000 after purchasing an additional 38,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,931,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,851,000 after purchasing an additional 17,254 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,324,156.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $330,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 44,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,711,680. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares in the company, valued at $9,324,156.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Waste Management from $226.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.83.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $203.11 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.66. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $225.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.51 billion, a PE ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.82. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.52% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current year.

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.