Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Grows Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 55,203 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $11,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 312,618 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $55,990,000 after purchasing an additional 48,549 shares during the last quarter. Trium Capital LLP raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 33.6% during the third quarter. Trium Capital LLP now owns 12,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,498,000 after purchasing an additional 3,029 shares during the last quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 18.6% during the first quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC now owns 20,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,145 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Management by 8.8% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 754 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management during the first quarter worth $7,146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the topic of several research reports. CIBC lowered their target price on Waste Management from $223.00 to $213.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Waste Management from $226.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Waste Management from $229.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $204.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.89.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $212.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.95 and a 1-year high of $225.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.48.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.82. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.43 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.52% and a net margin of 12.13%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.69%.

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.