KKM Financial LLC Increases Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

KKM Financial LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 618 shares during the quarter. Waste Management accounts for approximately 1.2% of KKM Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. KKM Financial LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,009,726,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $340,611,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Waste Management by 250.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,658,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,716,000 after buying an additional 1,184,905 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. CIBC increased their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James increased their target price on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.29.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:WM opened at $233.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $239.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $228.54 and a 200 day moving average of $221.15.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 49.77%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 79,522 shares of company stock valued at $18,084,124 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Company 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.