BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Acquires 152,224 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 76.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 350,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 152,224 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $70,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total value of $282,625.92. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. This trade represents a 17.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 79,522 shares of company stock worth $18,084,124 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WM. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.29.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $233.91 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $239.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $228.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.88. The stock has a market cap of $94.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.75 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.77%.

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.