CreativeOne Wealth LLC Increases Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 99.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,226 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC's holdings in Waste Management were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,526,823,000 after buying an additional 538,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,654,173,000 after purchasing an additional 64,260 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,009,726,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Waste Management by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $10,143,434.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at $48,212,664.23. The trade was a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Waste Management stock traded down $1.04 on Thursday, hitting $227.59. 652,218 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,641,914. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $227.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.57 billion, a PE ratio of 33.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $239.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

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

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is an increase from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.76.

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.