Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Buys 137,796 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,939,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 137,796 shares during the period. Waste Management accounts for about 1.7% of Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.48% of Waste Management worth $391,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.6% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,741,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,450,000 after purchasing an additional 122,696 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 10.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,077 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 4.4% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,416 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.9% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 27,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,778,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WM. Scotiabank upped their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. CIBC upped their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their price target on Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total value of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,995,045.36. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE WM opened at $222.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.78, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $220.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $235.81.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 48.53%.

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.