Breakwater Capital Group Takes $225,000 Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Breakwater Capital Group acquired a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total value of $859,610.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 45,644 shares in the company, valued at $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WM. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, June 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.61.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM traded up $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $213.34. The stock had a trading volume of 2,908,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,412. The company has a market cap of $85.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a fifty day moving average of $208.06 and a 200 day moving average of $200.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.10%.

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.