Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $340,611,000. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 138.0% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 718,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,168,000 after purchasing an additional 416,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,668,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WM shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.65.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $225.06 on Monday. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $235.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $220.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued 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 return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total transaction of $46,094.95. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.