LS Investment Advisors LLC Sells 410 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

LS Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 27,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 410 shares during the quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $6,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $1,009,726,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Waste Management by 26,095.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,909,370 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $442,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902,081 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at $340,611,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 250.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,658,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,905 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WM. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. HSBC upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. The trade was a 3.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,966 shares of company stock worth $18,486,402 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.5%

WM stock opened at $239.07 on Thursday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $242.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $223.18. 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 company has a market cap of $96.20 billion, a PE ratio of 35.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

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.