Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 475,203 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 52,278 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $85,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO purchased a new position in Waste Management in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management in the first quarter worth $29,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WM. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 9,550 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $1,738,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,816,516. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 9,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total value of $1,738,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,816,516. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,057 shares of company stock valued at $5,895,870 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WM stock traded down $0.40 on Tuesday, reaching $204.96. 1,457,291 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,687,398. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.25 billion, a PE ratio of 36.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $205.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.90.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 53.00%.

Waste Management 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.