Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,183 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WM. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $1,282,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $896,000. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 107,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,289,000 after buying an additional 2,051 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $582,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on WM shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. HSBC lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM traded up $1.65 on Wednesday, reaching $210.43. The company had a trading volume of 1,828,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,506. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $208.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.32.

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

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.