Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Purchases 6,841 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 17.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,618 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,841 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's holdings in Waste Management were worth $9,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 193.7% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 9,944 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 6,558 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in Waste Management by 83.0% in the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Waste Management by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 289,371 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $61,190,000 after purchasing an additional 10,526 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% in the first quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,435 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 33.9% during the first quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 2,222 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WM shares. Scotiabank started coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Friday, October 4th. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $220.00 target price for the company. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eleven 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $226.11.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WM traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $219.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,370,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,613,398. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $168.73 and a 52 week high of $226.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.92 billion, a PE ratio of 33.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $211.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.78.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Waste Management's payout ratio is presently 45.87%.

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.