International Assets Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 13,927.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 504,296 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 500,701 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Waste Management worth $90,319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 6,741 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,207,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $620,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 8,436 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 7,942 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,422,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Corundum Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 5,637 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $33,485.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 56,461 shares in the company, valued at $10,219,441. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 9,550 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $1,738,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,838 shares in the company, valued at $27,816,516. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $33,485.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 56,461 shares in the company, valued at $10,219,441. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,242 shares of company stock valued at $5,929,355. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.15.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE WM traded down $0.16 on Friday, reaching $206.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,760,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,416,576. The firm has a market cap of $83.04 billion, a PE ratio of 36.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $203.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. This is a boost from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 53.00%.

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.