YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 48.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,379 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 10,891 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Management by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,855 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 135.4% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,770 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 194.0% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 12,835 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,299,000 after purchasing an additional 8,470 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Finally, Genesee Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at $229,000. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WM. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group cut shares of Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 9,550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total value of $1,738,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,816,516. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 9,550 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,816,516. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $33,485.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 56,461 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,219,441. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,242 shares of company stock worth $5,929,355. Insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE WM traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $205.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,167,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,663,935. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The company has a market capitalization of $82.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $205.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $183.34.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.