Perpetual Ltd Has $12.80 Million Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Perpetual Ltd increased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 9.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,053 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $12,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. increased its position in Waste Management by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, FCA Corp TX raised its stake in Waste Management by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. FCA Corp TX now owns 5,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE WM opened at $208.79 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.71 and a twelve month high of $214.54. The business’s fifty day moving average is $207.30 and its 200 day moving average is $198.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The company has a market cap of $83.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released 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 company had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 49.10%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total value of $859,610.24. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 45,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. CIBC raised their price objective on Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.61.

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.