Procyon Advisors LLC Buys 599 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 599 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $3,138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Courier Capital LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Family Legacy Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Family Legacy Inc. now owns 14,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,510,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $220,000. PFG Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,171 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co of the South purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $339,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WM. HSBC cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Erste Group Bank raised Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Waste Management from $163.00 to $189.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total transaction of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,242 shares of company stock worth $5,929,355 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE WM traded down $0.70 during trading on Thursday, reaching $213.27. 218,787 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,629,143. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.71 and a 12-month high of $214.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $85.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.87.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 53.00%.

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.