Blossom Wealth Management Grows Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Blossom Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,494 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Blossom Wealth Management’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,135,000 after buying an additional 2,127 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Waste Management by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after acquiring an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. Trium Capital LLP increased its stake in 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 period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 77.4% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,553,000 after purchasing an additional 5,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,759,000 after purchasing an additional 28,266 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Ten 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.61.

Waste Management Stock Down 1.0 %

Waste Management stock opened at $220.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $88.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $184.72 and a fifty-two week high of $230.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $212.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 38.88%. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.