Midwest Professional Planners LTD. Sells 2,450 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. trimmed its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 15.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,940 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,450 shares during the period. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Waste Management by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Bey Douglas LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Bey Douglas LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on WM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to an “outperformer” rating and set a $244.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Waste Management from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $256.20.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM opened at $232.90 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $221.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $226.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.44. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $194.11 and a 52-week high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 10.99% and a return on equity of 31.90%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.67 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.945 dividend. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 54.70%.

Waste Management Profile

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.