Woodline Partners LP Sells 23,019 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Woodline Partners LP reduced its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 30.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,579 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 23,019 shares during the quarter. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Waste Management were worth $10,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WM. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 65.7% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 174 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on WM. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Management to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.06.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total value of $4,303,870.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,257 shares in the company, valued at $19,158,100.47. The trade was a 18.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,385 shares of company stock valued at $6,636,603. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE WM traded down $0.90 on Wednesday, hitting $237.13. 335,778 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,657,980. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.59 and a 1-year high of $239.32. The company has a market cap of $95.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $229.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $222.48.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.75 EPS. Waste Management's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

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