ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Purchases Shares of 1,529 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on WM. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.24.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WM traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $207.88. 2,237,956 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,702,229. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $208.92 and its 200-day moving average is $188.64. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $83.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.10%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at $19,804,339.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.