Florida Financial Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Florida Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,231 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in Waste Management by 892.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. General Partner Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Waste Management by 65.7% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 174 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. CIBC upped their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued 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 an average target price of $236.65.

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Insider Activity

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, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. This represents a 17.38 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WM traded down $1.23 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $227.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,264,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,616,188. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $224.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. 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 $235.81.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. As a group, analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

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