CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Sells 1,193 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA trimmed its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 22.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,152 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,193 shares during the quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA's holdings in Waste Management were worth $961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.8% during the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,672 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $850,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,510 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 24.2% during the 1st quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Greystone Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 13.8% in the first quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 41,660 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $9,645,000 after acquiring an additional 5,054 shares during the period. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.4% in the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 19,139 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,542 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. This trade 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

WM stock traded up $2.53 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $236.82. 1,086,087 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,619,614. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $242.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $231.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $223.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Waste Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Waste Management from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $248.00.

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.