Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Purchases New Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,047 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,018,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its position in Waste Management by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 1,869,190 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $377,184,000 after purchasing an additional 11,940 shares in the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $256,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Waste Management by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 278,890 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $55,929,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Waste Management by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE WM traded up $1.24 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $238.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,791,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,663,075. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.59 and a fifty-two week high of $239.48. The company has a market cap of $95.79 billion, a PE ratio of 35.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $229.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.48.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WM. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. CIBC raised their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total value of $4,303,870.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,257 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. This trade represents a 18.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,385 shares of company stock valued at $6,636,603 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.