Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC Sells 83 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC reduced its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,416 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 83 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 8.5% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,407,000 after purchasing an additional 2,272 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,455,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 93.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,348,000 after purchasing an additional 22,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM traded up $2.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $209.97. The stock had a trading volume of 508,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,669,444. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $208.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $189.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 49.10%.

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.