Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Raises Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 7.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,015 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,361 shares during the quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI's holdings in Waste Management were worth $24,312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,384,000 after buying an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 41.7% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 789 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.8% in the first quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 283,500 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $65,633,000 after buying an additional 7,751 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 592,229 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $137,108,000 after acquiring an additional 24,023 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,247 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 958 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WM shares. Melius Research upgraded shares of Waste Management to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $263.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $251.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, 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 transaction of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 16,542 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,917,311.02. The trade was a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 83,934 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% 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 WM stock traded down $0.13 on Thursday, reaching $225.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,403,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,632,070. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $231.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.04. The company has a market capitalization of $90.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $242.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.67% and a return on equity of 35.67%. Waste Management's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.75 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. Waste Management's payout ratio is 49.77%.

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.