Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Trims Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC decreased its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 203 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,686,203,000 after buying an additional 168,818 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,063,072,000 after acquiring an additional 520,096 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Waste Management by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $538,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 12.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,175,000 after purchasing an additional 276,287 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.0 %

Waste Management stock opened at $224.94 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $211.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.43. The company has a market capitalization of $90.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.48 and a 52 week high of $230.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 38.88%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 44.12%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,446.72. This represents a 5.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 4,000 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.89, for a total transaction of $903,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,185,967.59. The trade was a 17.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,055 shares of company stock worth $3,578,340 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WM. Raymond James increased their target price on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.50.

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.