IMG Wealth Management Inc. Buys Shares of 538 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 538 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $109,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,897,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $803,819,000 after purchasing an additional 25,801 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,961,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $597,614,000 after purchasing an additional 157,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.59, for a total value of $152,868.87. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,542 shares in the company, valued at $10,046,109.78. This represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM opened at $225.06 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $90.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $235.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $220.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.35.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer lifted 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.65.

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.