Centric Wealth Management Acquires Shares of 6,805 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Centric Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,805 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,373,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,009,726,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $340,611,000. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,265,629,000 after buying an additional 1,151,237 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Management by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,526,823,000 after acquiring an additional 538,567 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 138.0% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 718,546 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $149,168,000 after acquiring an additional 416,579 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WM shares. Raymond James lifted their price target on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. CIBC increased their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $236.65.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 693 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.59, for a total transaction of $152,868.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,542 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,046,109.78. This trade represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $234.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,410,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,618,695. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $235.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $225.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.10. The stock has a market cap of $94.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last issued 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, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.53%.

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.