Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Increases Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 36.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 179,212 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 48,260 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC's holdings in Waste Management were worth $36,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $505,175,000 after acquiring an additional 276,287 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 8,774 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,770,000 after buying an additional 3,003 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 48.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,977 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,524 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,767,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC bought a new position in Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $344,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Waste Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. HSBC upgraded shares of Waste Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.06.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM stock traded up $3.69 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $237.01. The company had a trading volume of 1,503,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,662,559. 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's 50 day moving average price is $229.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $222.28. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $239.32. The company has a market capitalization of $95.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.75 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the firm'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 directly owns 85,257 shares of the company's stock, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 29,385 shares of company stock valued at $6,636,603 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Waste Management

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.