Kovack Advisors Inc. Sells 215 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,883 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 215 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 26.6% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,464 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after acquiring an additional 2,198 shares during the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 2,566 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.9% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 27,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,778,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Mengis Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Waste Management by 1.3% during the third quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,205,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas boosted its position in Waste Management by 4.3% during the third quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 3,161 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,946.25. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WM. Argus boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.11.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of WM opened at $221.72 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $168.73 and a fifty-two week high of $226.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $211.08 and a 200 day moving average of $209.55. The firm has a market cap of $88.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 45.87%.

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.