Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Decreases Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,938,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Waste Management by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. Trium Capital LLP raised its stake in Waste Management by 33.6% during the third quarter. Trium Capital LLP now owns 12,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,498,000 after purchasing an additional 3,029 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 77.4% in the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after acquiring an additional 5,367 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,759,000 after acquiring an additional 28,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in Waste Management by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,980,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on WM. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Waste Management stock opened at $211.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $213.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.25. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $181.56 and a 52-week high of $230.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio 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.