New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 29,503 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 582,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,503 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $120,910,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 59.2% in the first quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,494,000 after acquiring an additional 2,606 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 1st quarter valued at $418,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.9% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 4,676 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the first quarter worth $1,827,000. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in Waste Management during the first quarter valued at $280,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on WM. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Waste Management from $226.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus raised their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.05.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $215.88. 67,178 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,615,396. The firm has a market cap of $86.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $162.34 and a one year high of $225.00.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.87%.

About Waste Management

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.