Waste Management, Inc. $WM Stock Position Trimmed by Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG decreased its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 21.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,770 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 23,033 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $19,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 101.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 133 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the second quarter worth $40,000. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $232.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (down from $254.00) on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays dropped their target price on Waste Management from $266.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Waste Management from $236.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.59.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $231.02 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $232.50 and a 200-day moving average of $221.04. The firm has a market cap of $93.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $194.11 and a twelve month high of $248.13.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The business services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $6.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.39 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 10.74%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.945 per share. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 56.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In related news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 121 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.27, for a total value of $29,677.67. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,293 shares in the company, valued at $2,279,294.11. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael J. Watson sold 17,251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.81, for a total value of $4,171,464.31. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 44,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,674,944.26. This represents a 28.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 98,042 shares of company stock worth $23,039,777. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Profile

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.