968 Shares in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Acquired by Exchange Capital Management Inc.

Exchange Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 968 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,272 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,319,000 after buying an additional 500,701 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 93.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,348,000 after buying an additional 22,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.61.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM opened at $209.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.74. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $208.09 and its 200-day moving average is $200.23.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

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.