Mackenzie Financial Corp Lowers Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Mackenzie Financial Corp decreased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 28.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,774 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 37,602 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp's holdings in Waste Management were worth $18,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 174 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on WM. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. CIBC raised their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Waste Management from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Waste Management from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $247.06.

Waste Management Price Performance

Waste Management stock traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $237.67. The company had a trading volume of 1,257,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,662,240. 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 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $240.00. The company has a market capitalization of $95.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $229.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 3,094 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.11, for a total value of $705,772.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 53,663 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,241,066.93. This represents a 5.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,995,045.36. This trade represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 87,947 shares of company stock valued at $20,536,508. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.