Cambridge Trust Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Cambridge Trust Co. reduced its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 148,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 841 shares during the period. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $26,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 8.5% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,407,000 after buying an additional 2,272 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.0% in the third quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,455,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 93.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,348,000 after buying an additional 22,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,319,000 after acquiring an additional 500,701 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,934,010.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $461,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,080,935.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,507 shares of company stock valued at $4,157,770. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WM. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.85.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WM traded down $1.21 on Thursday, hitting $204.94. 491,693 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,664,732. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $206.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.43. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

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.