Sanders Morris Harris LLC Buys Shares of 2,542 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 2,542 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $542,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sachetta LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.61.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total transaction of $859,610.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WM traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $208.99. The company had a trading volume of 2,248,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,833,324. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $83.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $207.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $198.50. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.71 and a 12-month high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.10%.

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.