Waste Management, Inc. $WM Shares Sold by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group reduced its Waste Management stake by 16.5% in the second quarter, selling 58,134 shares and retaining 294,428 shares valued at approximately $65.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 80.4% of WM.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with 13 Buy ratings and seven Holds producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $258.89.
• Waste Management beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $2.02 in adjusted earnings per share and $6.68 billion in revenue. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.945 per share, equivalent to a 1.7% annual yield.

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 294,428 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 58,134 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Waste Management worth $65,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Waste Management by 26,113.1% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 121,870,338 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $27,162,461,000 after purchasing an additional 121,405,416 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth about $1,022,916,000. Morgan Stanley Institutional Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 2nd quarter valued at about $322,479,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 279.0% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,075,906 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $236,387,000 after purchasing an additional 792,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 23,051.5% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 770,945 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $17,716,000 after purchasing an additional 767,615 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Waste Management from $264.00 to $263.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $240.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Waste Management from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Waste Management from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $258.89.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $216.30 on Thursday. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $194.11 and a one year high of $248.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $228.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.78. The stock has a market cap of $86.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 31.68%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 8.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.945 per share. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Waste Management's payout ratio is 53.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO John Carroll sold 1,365 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total value of $300,163.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,509 shares in the company, valued at $771,629.10. This represents a 28.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Waste Management

WM, Inc, formerly known as Waste Management, Inc, is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers, helping manage everyday refuse as well as certain specialized waste streams.

Its operations include curbside and commercial waste collection, transfer stations, recycling facilities, landfills and waste-related energy services. WM also develops renewable natural gas and electricity projects that capture landfill gas for use as an energy source.

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