Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Decreases Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP lowered its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 460 shares during the period. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Waste Management by 0.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,963,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,061,521,000 after buying an additional 46,084 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 16.9% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,366,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $827,815,000 after buying an additional 776,491 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Waste Management by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,213,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $794,174,000 after acquiring an additional 66,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,065,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $619,797,000 after purchasing an additional 90,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.4% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,446,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $372,886,000 after purchasing an additional 9,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WM. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on Waste Management in a report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 price target for the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.85.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WM traded up $1.65 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $210.43. 1,828,674 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,665,506. The firm has a market cap of $84.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.71 and a 12-month high of $214.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $207.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.15.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 53.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company 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.