Courier Capital LLC Invests $202,000 in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Courier Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Family Legacy Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Family Legacy Inc. now owns 14,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,510,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $220,000. PFG Investments LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,171 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $568,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of the South acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $339,000. Finally, Keystone Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth about $219,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 16th. UBS Group lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $163.00 to $189.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.47.

Waste Management Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:WM opened at $213.97 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.71 and a 1-year high of $214.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $33,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 56,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,219,441. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Waste Management news, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $33,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 56,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,219,441. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 9,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $1,738,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,838 shares in the company, valued at $27,816,516. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,242 shares of company stock worth $5,929,355. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.