Meeder Asset Management Inc. Decreases Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Key Points

• Meeder Asset Management Inc. drastically reduced its stake in Waste Management, Inc. by 99.3%, now holding only 142 shares valued at $33,000 after selling 21,409 shares in the first quarter.
• The CFO of Waste Management, Devina A. Rankin, sold 57,888 shares at an average price of $237.36, resulting in a decrease of 40.82% in her ownership of the stock.
• Analyst ratings for Waste Management show a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with a price target increase, as firms like Oppenheimer raised their price objective from $260 to $265.

Meeder Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 99.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 21,409 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Waste Management were worth $33,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,384,000 after buying an additional 2,320 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in Waste Management by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 124,848 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,193,000 after buying an additional 15,974 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Waste Management by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 260,910 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $52,649,000 after buying an additional 13,755 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,315 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,678,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $469,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total value of $13,740,295.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 83,934 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. The trade was a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 16,542 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,917,311.02. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Melius Research upgraded shares of Waste Management to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $263.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Waste Management from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Waste Management from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, CIBC raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $254.35.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $228.93 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.69 and a 52-week high of $242.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $92.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $231.65 and a 200-day moving average of $227.97.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Waste Management's payout ratio is currently 48.96%.

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.

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