Insider Selling: Waste Management (NYSE:WM) CAO Sells $300,163.50 in Stock

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) CAO John Carroll sold 1,365 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total transaction of $300,163.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $771,629.10. The trade was a 28.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Waste Management Price Performance

Waste Management stock traded down $1.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $217.93. The company had a trading volume of 1,181,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,160,255. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $194.11 and a 12-month high of $248.13. The company has a market capitalization of $87.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $228.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $227.01.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 31.68% and a net margin of 11.11%.Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.945 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Management

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the second quarter valued at $30,968,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the second quarter worth $15,361,000. Vancity Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,825 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,075,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 26,113.1% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 121,870,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,162,461,000 after buying an additional 121,405,416 shares during the period. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 118.8% during the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,309,000 after buying an additional 8,062 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WM shares. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Waste Management from $264.00 to $263.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $270.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waste Management from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut shares of Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $258.89.

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.