Putney Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 1,862 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,862 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 1,869,190 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $377,184,000 after purchasing an additional 11,940 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $256,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 278,890 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $55,929,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:WM traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $238.05. 1,791,378 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,663,075. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $229.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $222.48. 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 current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $95.79 billion, a PE ratio of 35.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.75 EPS. Waste Management's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 49.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 1,547 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 transaction of $352,886.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 44,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,045,280.07. This represents a 3.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total transaction of $4,303,870.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares in the company, valued at $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,385 shares of company stock valued at $6,636,603. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. 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. 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 research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $247.06.

About Waste Management

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.