Fjell Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Fjell Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,569 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,124,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in Waste Management by 4,000.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 892.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. General Partner Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 65.7% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,152 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,446.72. This trade represents a 5.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total value of $46,094.95. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,999,506.30. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,192 shares of company stock worth $15,025,861. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WM shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Argus upped their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.94.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.4 %

WM stock opened at $230.59 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $214.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $213.47. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.59 and a 12 month high of $232.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $92.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.12%.

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.