Portside Wealth Group LLC Increases Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 39.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. This trade represents a 18.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. The trade was a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,966 shares of company stock valued at $18,486,402. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.5%

WM opened at $239.07 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $231.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $96.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.59 and a 12 month high of $242.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WM. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. HSBC upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.06.

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.