Lbp Am Sa Has $9.59 Million Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

LBP AM SA boosted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 320.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,416 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 31,569 shares during the period. LBP AM SA's holdings in Waste Management were worth $9,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WM. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its position in Waste Management by 126.9% in the 1st quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 118 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 69.0% during the 1st quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 120 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Adalta Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 83,934 shares in the company, valued at $19,922,574.24. The trade was a 40.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 16,542 shares in the company, valued at $3,917,311.02. The trade was a 3.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WM. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Waste Management to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Management to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Waste Management from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $251.29.

Waste Management Stock Performance

WM stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $225.73. The stock had a trading volume of 807,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,628,894. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.64. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $242.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $225.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 35.67% and a net margin of 11.67%. The business's revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.77%.

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.