Money Concepts Capital Corp Purchases 621 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Money Concepts Capital Corp boosted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,696 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $4,560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after acquiring an additional 538,567 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 64,260 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at $1,009,726,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,076,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $822,588,000 after purchasing an additional 224,279 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. CIBC upped their price objective on Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $226.86 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $242.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $91.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $233.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.30.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.67% and a return on equity of 35.67%. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.75 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.