Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC Decreases Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC lowered its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 66.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,370 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,679 shares during the quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management by 24.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 67,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,427,000 after buying an additional 13,193 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Waste Management by 9.4% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 55,212 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,779,000 after buying an additional 4,749 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.2% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 60,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 72,559 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,480,000 after acquiring an additional 2,441 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on WM. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 4th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM opened at $211.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.22. The stock has a market cap of $85.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $181.56 and a 1-year high of $230.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.87%.

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.