RFG Advisory LLC Decreases Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

RFG Advisory LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 249 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Waste Management by 0.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,963,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,061,521,000 after buying an additional 46,084 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Management by 1.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,213,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $794,174,000 after buying an additional 66,816 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,799,687 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $859,624,000 after buying an additional 16,213 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $784,486,000. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Waste Management by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,923,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $523,581,000 after buying an additional 844,298 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. CIBC boosted their target price on Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.61.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.1 %

WM opened at $208.99 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $207.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $83.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 2.43 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.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $859,610.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares in the company, valued at $9,324,156.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Company 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.