Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Stake Boosted by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 27.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,558 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WM. abrdn plc increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 315.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,457,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $222,165,000 after buying an additional 1,106,773 shares in the last quarter. Mirova US LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management by 26,116.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 913,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $163,680,000 after acquiring an additional 910,418 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 128.2% during the 3rd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 898,796 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $137,012,000 after buying an additional 504,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,319,000 after purchasing an additional 500,701 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.24.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.3 %

Waste Management stock traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $207.35. The stock had a trading volume of 121,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,660,176. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.71 and a fifty-two week high of $214.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.16 billion, a PE ratio of 33.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.17.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm 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 38.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.10%.

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.