Bar Harbor Wealth Management Acquires 143 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Bar Harbor Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $6,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Management by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after buying an additional 538,567 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,654,173,000 after buying an additional 64,260 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after buying an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth $1,009,726,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Waste Management by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,076,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $822,588,000 after buying an additional 224,279 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on WM shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. CIBC lifted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. HSBC upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.00.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM opened at $236.82 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $231.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $242.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. The trade was a 40.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total value of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This trade represents a 3.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.