CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. Takes Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,798 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $859,000. Waste Management comprises 1.8% of CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 8.5% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,272 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,132,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,662 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,455,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 93.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,348,000 after buying an additional 22,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $90,319,000 after buying an additional 500,701 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. HSBC lowered Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Erste Group Bank raised Waste Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $33,485.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 56,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,219,441. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of Waste Management 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 directly owns 56,461 shares in the company, valued at $10,219,441. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,242 shares of company stock valued at $5,929,355 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE WM traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $205.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,374,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,690,732. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $183.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.28, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 boost from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management's payout ratio is 53.00%.

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.