Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $346,000 Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 208 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Waste Management by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 129,839 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $23,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. TNF LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Drake & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 7,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,468,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 4,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $833,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 9,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total value of $1,738,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,816,516. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,057 shares of company stock valued at $5,895,870. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. HSBC downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.85.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE WM opened at $205.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $82.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $205.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.90. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30.

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

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

Waste Management Company 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.