7,158 Shares in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Purchased by Alaska Permanent Fund Corp

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 7,158 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,282,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,963,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,061,521,000 after acquiring an additional 46,084 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,366,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $827,815,000 after buying an additional 776,491 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,213,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $794,174,000 after buying an additional 66,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,065,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $619,797,000 after buying an additional 90,129 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,446,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $372,886,000 after buying an additional 9,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total transaction of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Seven 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, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.15.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $212.26 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 49.10%.

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.