Brighton Jones LLC Raises Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 1st quarter valued at about $300,594,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,226,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $900,957,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,466 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 1st quarter valued at about $193,955,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 20,402.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 868,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $185,196,000 after acquiring an additional 863,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 85.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,561,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $333,234,000 after acquiring an additional 720,358 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WM shares. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Waste Management from $240.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $213.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. CIBC reduced their price objective on Waste Management from $223.00 to $213.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $204.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.83.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $204.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $81.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.71 and a fifty-two week high of $225.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $208.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $208.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.43 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.52% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.51 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $330,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 44,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,711,680. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.