American Trust Takes Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

American Trust acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,779 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 7,534 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,768 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 609 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,039 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE WM traded up $1.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $239.61. 513,290 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,658,959. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $239.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $230.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $222.68. The firm has a market cap of $96.42 billion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The business's revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WM. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. CIBC increased their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Waste Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,995,045.36. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total value of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This trade represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 87,947 shares of company stock worth $20,536,508 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Company 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.