Rathbones Group PLC Acquires 52,156 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Rathbones Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 463,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 52,156 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $101,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the period. Sprott Inc. bought a new position in Waste Management during the first quarter worth about $325,000. CW Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% in the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 8,975 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,608 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 54,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,512,000 after acquiring an additional 2,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneX Group Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 18.3% in the second quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 2,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 30,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.36, for a total transaction of $7,000,640.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 225,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,013,675.48. The trade was a 11.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael J. Watson sold 17,251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.81, for a total value of $4,171,464.31. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 44,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,674,944.26. The trade was a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 98,042 shares of company stock valued at $23,039,777 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Waste Management from $223.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $236.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.59.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.1%

WM stock opened at $235.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $94.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.54. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $194.11 and a twelve month high of $248.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $232.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $221.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The business services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $6.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.39 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.70 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.945 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.42%.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.