Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Acquired by Golden State Equity Partners

Golden State Equity Partners grew its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Waste Management were worth $332,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $210.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.08. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.71 and a 52-week high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 49.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total transaction of $69,075.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,218 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,641.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total transaction of $69,075.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,218 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,641.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 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 worth $3,696,520. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WM. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.21.

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.