OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A Reduces Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A cut its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 46.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 347 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $70,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,686,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in Waste Management by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Waste Management by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,897,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $803,819,000 after buying an additional 25,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,961,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $597,614,000 after buying an additional 157,082 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,212,664.23. This trade represents a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $227.37 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market cap of $91.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.44, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $221.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.65. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $235.81.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS 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 37.93%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

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.