Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Has $301,000 Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. decreased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 66.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,550 shares during the period. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WM. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 50.7% during the first quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 69.0% during the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.5% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 30,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,071,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the first quarter valued at approximately $260,000. Finally, Bar Harbor Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.5% during the first quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 27,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,445,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WM. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Melius Research raised shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $263.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.00.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at $19,922,574.24. The trade was a 40.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $236.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.59 and a 12 month high of $242.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $232.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.83. The firm has a market cap of $95.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

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.