Raymond James & Associates Grows Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,031,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,175 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Waste Management were worth $219,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WM. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.7% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,053 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.6% during the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 9,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total transaction of $1,844,111.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $19,804,339.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.2 %

Waste Management stock traded down $2.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $210.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,650,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,589,993. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $208.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.87. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54. The stock has a market cap of $84.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 49.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.21.

Waste Management Company Profile

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.