M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Buys Shares of 1,436 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,436 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 4,000.0% during the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in Waste Management by 892.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. General Partner Inc. purchased a new stake in Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on 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 objective on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $230.72.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.4 %

WM stock traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $211.79. 1,663,684 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,458,420. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $181.56 and a 52-week high of $230.39. The stock's fifty day moving average is $213.80 and its 200-day moving average is $211.26. The company has a market cap of $85.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio is 45.87%.

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.