PeakShares LLC Acquires New Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

PeakShares LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,031,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,990,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,566,508,000 after acquiring an additional 553,605 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Waste Management by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,390,748 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,820,921,000 after purchasing an additional 281,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,993,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,972,371,000 after purchasing an additional 117,476 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,668,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,250,613,000 after purchasing an additional 277,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,022,916,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Friday, March 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Waste Management from $273.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $255.30.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM opened at $214.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $86.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $221.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.68. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $194.11 and a 52-week high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.06. Waste Management had a net margin of 10.99% and a return on equity of 31.90%. The company had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.67 EPS. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.945 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 54.70%.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.