Disciplined Equity Management Inc. Invests $161,000 in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 900 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $161,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 89,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,044,000 after buying an additional 2,016 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,551,000 after buying an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Management by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 46,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WM traded up $1.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $210.43. The company had a trading volume of 1,828,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,506. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $208.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.18, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WM. UBS Group downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Seven investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.85.

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.