Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 20.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,637 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. West Branch Capital LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 69.0% during the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Melius Research upgraded Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $263.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This trade represents a 3.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.5%

Waste Management stock opened at $233.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $93.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.16, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $242.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $232.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 35.67% and a net margin of 11.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.75 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

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.