Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC Sells 100 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.2% in the first quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 2,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Financial Services CORP. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WM shares. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total value of $859,610.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WM traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $213.34. The company had a trading volume of 2,908,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,412. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $208.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $199.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.71 and a 52-week high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.10%.

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.