Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC Sells 100 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 301.5% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 12,929 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,971,000 after buying an additional 9,709 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 9,418 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,436,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 466.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 23,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,543,000 after buying an additional 19,136 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 146,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,327,000 after buying an additional 46,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 5,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM traded up $0.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $213.34. The stock had a trading volume of 2,908,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,412. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.71 and a 12-month high of $214.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.10%.

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.