Beck Mack & Oliver LLC Buys Shares of 2,025 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Beck Mack & Oliver LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,025 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $409,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $56,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted 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 buying an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $99,759,000 after purchasing an additional 28,266 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Waste Management by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $15,980,000 after buying an additional 4,798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WM. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target 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. 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 company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $237.76.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total transaction of $46,094.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.6 %

Waste Management stock traded down $1.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $227.15. The stock had a trading volume of 1,053,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,643,424. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $239.32. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $227.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $219.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.39 billion, a PE ratio of 33.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management's payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

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.