Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Decreases Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 393,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,863 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $83,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Waste Management by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 312,618 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,990,000 after acquiring an additional 48,549 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at $1,673,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new position in Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at $4,993,000. Finally, Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC now owns 20,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,145 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on WM. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $213.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $226.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, 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 on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Eleven 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.83.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $201.85 on Thursday. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.71 and a twelve month high of $225.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $208.87 and a 200-day moving average of $208.73. The firm has a market cap of $81.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.82. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.43 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.51 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

About Waste Management

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.