Hager Investment Management Services LLC Makes New $345,000 Investment in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WM. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 4,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 892.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. General Partner Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WM shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.50.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $222.33 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $212.16 and a 200 day moving average of $211.25. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.20 and a 12 month high of $230.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 38.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 44.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 5,826 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,294,071.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,442 shares in the company, valued at $15,424,457.04. The trade was a 7.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total value of $46,094.95. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,055 shares of company stock worth $2,674,780 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.