Allen Capital Group LLC Makes New Investment in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Allen Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,507 shares of company stock valued at $4,157,770. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE WM opened at $204.96 on Wednesday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $206.30 and a 200-day moving average of $184.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $82.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 53.00%.

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.