Royal Fund Management LLC Cuts Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Royal Fund Management LLC trimmed its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 672 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $5,454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WM. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 2,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Financial Services CORP. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” 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, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.61.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM stock traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $208.99. The company had a trading volume of 2,248,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,833,324. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $207.37 and its 200 day moving average is $198.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total transaction of $859,610.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.