Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Bought by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 292,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,153 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Waste Management were worth $62,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WM. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 3.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 29.7% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 1.2% during the 1st 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 raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.2% in the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 4,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $907,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GYL Financial Synergies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.8% during the second 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WM shares. CIBC reduced their target price on Waste Management from $223.00 to $213.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $213.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Waste Management from $229.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.83.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of WM opened at $207.69 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21. The firm has a market cap of $83.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $208.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.70. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $225.00.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.82. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.43 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. Analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.