Intact Investment Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Intact Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $3,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. abrdn plc raised its stake in Waste Management by 315.7% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,457,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $222,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,773 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 26,116.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 913,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $163,680,000 after acquiring an additional 910,418 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 16.9% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,366,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $827,815,000 after acquiring an additional 776,491 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 128.2% in the third quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 898,796 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $137,012,000 after acquiring an additional 504,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,319,000 after purchasing an additional 500,701 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now 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 is available at this link. Also, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total transaction of $363,937.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 55,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,353,349.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Waste Management stock traded down $2.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $210.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,650,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,589,993. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.08. The company has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Eight 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.21.

About Waste Management

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.