Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 397 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WM. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.9% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 62,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,520,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 4.1% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 128,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,650,000 after buying an additional 5,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WM traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $207.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,237,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,702,229. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $208.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.64. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The company has a market capitalization of $83.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 49.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WM shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.24.

About Waste Management

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.