Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Shares Sold by IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd

Key Points

• IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd reduced its stake in Waste Management, Inc. by 7.8%, owning 50,976 shares valued at approximately $11.8 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their holdings in Waste Management, with Ameriprise Financial raising its stake by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, now owning over 4 million shares.
• Waste Management reported $1.92 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts’ expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.825 per share.

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lessened its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,976 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 4,301 shares during the quarter. Waste Management makes up about 1.4% of IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd's holdings in Waste Management were worth $11,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,076,447 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $822,588,000 after acquiring an additional 224,279 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Waste Management by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,996,773 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $806,509,000 after purchasing an additional 465,789 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,633,710 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $531,456,000 after buying an additional 177,398 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,426,067 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $489,570,000 after buying an additional 170,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Waste Management by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,104,650 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $424,697,000 after acquiring an additional 16,739 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were 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 owned 16,542 shares in the company, 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. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock traded up $1.81 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $231.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,069,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,629,190. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $199.69 and a one year high of $242.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $231.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $228.52. The stock has a market cap of $93.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Waste Management's payout ratio is presently 48.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on WM. CIBC lifted their target price on Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Waste Management from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Waste Management from $245.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $254.35.

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.