Hartford Investment Management Co. Cuts Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Hartford Investment Management Co. reduced its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,951 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 451 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $4,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,523,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $969,401,000 after purchasing an additional 12,664 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 44.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,226,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $900,957,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,466 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,846,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $820,539,000 after purchasing an additional 243,900 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Waste Management by 11.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,217,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $473,047,000 after buying an additional 221,380 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $366,537,000 after buying an additional 709,678 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $204.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $220.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $226.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, CIBC dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $223.00 to $213.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.89.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $211.80 on Thursday. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.95 and a fifty-two week high of $225.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.66, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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 company’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.