PDS Planning Inc Increases Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

PDS Planning Inc raised its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 111.6% in the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,388 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 1,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Mengis Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Waste Management by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302 shares during the period. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 3,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Seven equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total value of $153,899.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 3,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.49, for a total transaction of $653,329.75. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,403 shares in the company, valued at $7,262,034.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock traded up $1.97 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $209.50. 560,762 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,649,668. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $207.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.71 and a 52-week high of $214.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.77, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.