Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Sells 13,244 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lowered its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 90,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,244 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $18,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,135,000 after buying an additional 2,127 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,759,000 after buying an additional 28,266 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,980,000 after buying an additional 4,798 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.65.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.0 %

WM opened at $222.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $220.05 and its 200 day moving average is $215.15. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $235.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.78, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. Research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.53%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total value of $4,303,870.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. This represents a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.