Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Bought by Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc.

Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $4,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,526,823,000 after acquiring an additional 538,567 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,654,173,000 after purchasing an additional 64,260 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after buying an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,009,726,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Waste Management by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. HSBC raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.28.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,158,100.47. This trade represents a 18.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total value of $282,625.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,902,246.40. This trade represents a 12.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM opened at $228.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $91.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.59 and a 1-year high of $239.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 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.