Saudi Central Bank Purchases 13,334 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Saudi Central Bank increased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 89.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,204 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,334 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $6,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 1.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,733,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,849,981,000 after purchasing an additional 535,079 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,390,748 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,820,921,000 after purchasing an additional 281,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,993,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,972,371,000 after purchasing an additional 117,476 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth about $1,022,916,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Waste Management by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,954,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $873,276,000 after buying an additional 11,688 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WM shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $264.00 to $263.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Waste Management from $240.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Waste Management from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Waste Management from $263.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.89.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE WM opened at $218.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $87.50 billion, a PE ratio of 31.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $228.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $227.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.91. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $194.11 and a 52-week high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 31.68%. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.945 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.54%.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.