Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 117,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,991 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $23,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $366,537,000 after acquiring an additional 709,678 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 8.9% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 86,096 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,874,000 after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 4.4% during the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 23.9% during the third quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 988 shares during the period. Finally, MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.94.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $228.64 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $232.44. The company has a market capitalization of $91.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.62, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. As a group, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,446.72. The trade was a 5.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total value of $46,094.95. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,192 shares of company stock valued at $15,025,861 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Profile

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.