Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Seneca House Advisors

Seneca House Advisors cut its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 122 shares during the period. Seneca House Advisors’ holdings in Waste Management were worth $704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth $1,009,726,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth $340,611,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 250.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,658,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,905 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,151,237 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.06.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE WM opened at $236.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.75, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $231.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $223.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $242.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released 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 return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.75 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total value of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.