Olde Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,757 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 101.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in Waste Management in the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 47.0% during the third quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, COO John J. Morris sold 4,211 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.38, for a total value of $1,024,873.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 99,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,320,720.02. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 12,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.48, for a total transaction of $2,847,055.12. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 6,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,406,483.52. This trade represents a 66.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 98,042 shares of company stock worth $23,039,777 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM opened at $238.61 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $229.82 and a 200 day moving average of $220.39. The stock has a market cap of $96.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.61, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $194.11 and a 52-week high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The business services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). Waste Management had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 10.74%.The business had revenue of $6.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.70 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.945 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Waste Management from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $266.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (down from $254.00) on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $253.55.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.