1,705 Shares in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Acquired by Zhang Financial LLC

Zhang Financial LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 94,414.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $538,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,842 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Waste Management by 67.2% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after buying an additional 709,678 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,063,072,000 after purchasing an additional 520,096 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $374,062,000 after acquiring an additional 437,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 138.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 718,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,168,000 after acquiring an additional 416,579 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on WM shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,946.25. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $211.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $181.56 and a 12 month high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.87%.

Waste Management Company 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.