Zacks Investment Management Decreases Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Zacks Investment Management cut its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,602 shares during the quarter. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,063,072,000 after purchasing an additional 520,096 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $969,401,000 after purchasing an additional 12,664 shares during 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 worth $820,539,000 after purchasing an additional 243,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $538,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 11.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 221,380 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM opened at $216.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $217.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $86.70 billion, a PE ratio of 33.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.75. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $172.30 and a 1 year high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.87%.

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.