Maple Capital Management Inc. Makes New $386,000 Investment in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Maple Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 1,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Waste Management by 67.2% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after acquiring an additional 709,678 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 10,927 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,283,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 57.6% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 364 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 6,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,246,000 after buying an additional 1,422 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.94.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,446.72. This represents a 5.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael J. Watson sold 5,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.51, for a total value of $1,304,087.32. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 55,587 shares in the company, valued at $12,646,598.37. The trade was a 9.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,192 shares of company stock worth $15,025,861. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $232.83 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $215.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $233.04.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued 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 37.93%. Sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

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.