Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC Has $276,000 Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC trimmed its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 66.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm 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.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WM. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $538,013,000 after buying an additional 2,588,842 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after purchasing an additional 520,096 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Waste Management by 32.1% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,842 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $374,062,000 after buying an additional 437,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Waste Management by 138.0% during 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 buying an additional 416,579 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WM. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $230.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at $834,946.25. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock traded up $0.78 on Friday, hitting $211.79. The stock had a trading volume of 1,663,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,458,420. The stock has a market cap of $85.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $181.56 and a twelve month high of $230.39. The business's 50 day moving average is $213.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.24.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date 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.