Fmr LLC Has $150.58 Million Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Fmr LLC decreased its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 746,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 64,314 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned 0.19% of Waste Management worth $150,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,175,000 after acquiring an additional 276,287 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Management by 19.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 990 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 12,706 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,638,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 11,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,327,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 245.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 6,689 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WM shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,902,246.40. This represents a 12.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 4,576 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,016,421.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,052,881.80. This represents a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $229.30 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $227.33 and a 200 day moving average of $218.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.59 and a 12 month high of $239.32. The company has a market capitalization of $92.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.72, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.53%.

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.