Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Grows Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,523,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $969,401,000 after buying an additional 12,664 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 44.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,226,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $900,957,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,466 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,846,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $820,539,000 after acquiring an additional 243,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $538,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Waste Management by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,217,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $473,047,000 after purchasing an additional 221,380 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WM shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.05.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $213.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.72, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.34 and a 1 year high of $225.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $209.34 and its 200 day moving average is $208.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.87%.

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.