New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $4.77 Million Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,366 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,100 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $4,767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 2.2% during the first quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 2,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Financial Services CORP. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, CIBC upped their price target on Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.61.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM stock traded up $0.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $213.34. The company had a trading volume of 2,908,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,412. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $208.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $199.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54.

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

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s 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.