Norden Group LLC Takes Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 33,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,146,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WM. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 5.1% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 31,716 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,835,000 after acquiring an additional 1,549 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 9.6% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in Waste Management by 66.3% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 22,702 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,461,000 after buying an additional 9,049 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 9.2% in the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 11,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,755,000 after buying an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the third quarter worth $549,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $210.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.71 and a 52-week high of $214.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $208.10 and a 200 day moving average of $200.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was 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 owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,324,156.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on WM shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. CIBC raised their target price on Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.61.

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.