Syon Capital LLC Buys 801 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Syon Capital LLC raised its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 27.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in Waste Management by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.21.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM traded down $2.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $210.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,648,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,671,104. The business’s 50-day moving average is $208.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.50. The company has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.71 and a 52-week high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 11.98%. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.10%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.