Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Purchased by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 75,764 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $16,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 214 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. McAdam LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,228 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,053 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total value of $859,610.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on WM. StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.33.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WM traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $211.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,161,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,707,479. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $208.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $201.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54. The company has a market cap of $84.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. 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.