Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) CFO Devina A. Rankin Sells 57,888 Shares

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM traded up $3.33 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $241.09. 2,439,995 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,665,228. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $241.68. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $230.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,384,000 after acquiring an additional 2,320 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,311 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in Waste Management by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,792 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Waste Management by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its position in Waste Management by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 10,514 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WM. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. CIBC raised their price objective 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. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.06.

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.