Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Has $6.66 Million Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd grew its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,257 shares during the quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $6,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Twin Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,363 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 651 shares during the period. Ninety One North America Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 71,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,736,000 after buying an additional 18,651 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 106.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 74,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,278,000 after buying an additional 38,304 shares during the period. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 3,612 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 price target for the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.85.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $461,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,080,935.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $461,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,959 shares in the company, valued at $6,080,935.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,507 shares of company stock valued at $4,157,770 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WM traded down $1.23 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $204.92. 564,036 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,665,377. The company has a market cap of $82.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.71 and a twelve month high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.00%.

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.