Simmons Bank Sells 121 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Simmons Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,732 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 121 shares during the period. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 3,161 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $656,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 1.3% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 436,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,644,000 after purchasing an additional 5,725 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 4.4% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,416 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 3,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after buying an additional 753 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.1% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,647,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WM. CIBC increased their price target on Waste Management from $213.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $226.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.11.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM opened at $225.67 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $90.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $210.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $209.43. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.73 and a 1-year high of $226.84.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.