Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Makes New $263,000 Investment in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WM. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Waste Management by 29.7% in the first quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 214 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 1.2% during the first quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.2% during the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 4,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GYL Financial Synergies LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 1,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $330,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 44,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,711,680. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WM shares. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $229.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Waste Management from $240.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $204.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.83.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $204.10 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $225.00. The company has a market capitalization of $81.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.82. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.52% and a net margin of 12.13%. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.51 EPS. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.