Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Stake Raised by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,407,000 after purchasing an additional 2,272 shares in the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 5.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised 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 worth $90,319,000 after purchasing an additional 500,701 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised 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 worth $8,348,000 after purchasing an additional 22,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WM shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, June 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total value 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

Waste Management stock opened at $210.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $200.61.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued 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. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $0.75 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 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.