Toroso Investments LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Toroso Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM – Get Rating) by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,362 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WM. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 184.2% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 160.8% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 39,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,373,000 after purchasing an additional 24,521 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,707,000. Finally, Ambassador Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 676.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ambassador Advisors LLC now owns 35,464 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,681,000 after purchasing an additional 30,897 shares during the last quarter. 78.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $31,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 64,317 shares in the company, valued at $9,969,135. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $31,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 64,317 shares in the company, valued at $9,969,135. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 15,204 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.03, for a total value of $2,357,076.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,318.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,027 shares of company stock worth $4,806,619 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WM. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Monday, December 19th. StockNews.com began coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on Waste Management from $183.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Waste Management from $167.00 to $158.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.50.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM opened at $153.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The company has a market capitalization of $62.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $138.89 and a 12-month high of $175.98. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $159.14.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.97 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 32.91% and a net margin of 11.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 8th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 51.95%.

About Waste Management

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Waste Management, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of waste management environmental services. It operates through the following segments: East Tier, West Tier, and Other. The East Tier segment consists of Eastern U.S., the Great Lakes Region, and Canada. The West Tier segment includes the upper Midwest region and British Columbia, Canada.