Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by Sterling Investment Management LLC

Sterling Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,549 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 76 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,686,203,000 after buying an additional 168,818 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,523,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $969,401,000 after purchasing an additional 12,664 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted 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 worth $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Waste Management by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,846,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $820,539,000 after buying an additional 243,900 shares in the last quarter. 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 Waste Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,946.25. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WM. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.72.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $212.77 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $213.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.27. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $182.93 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.77.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 45.87%.

Waste Management Company 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.