Blue Chip Partners LLC Acquires 38,696 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Blue Chip Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 51.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 113,900 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 38,696 shares during the period. Waste Management comprises about 2.1% of Blue Chip Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Blue Chip Partners LLC's holdings in Waste Management were worth $20,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. boosted its position 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 worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its position in Waste Management by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,816 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in Waste Management by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,369 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,217,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total transaction of $1,844,111.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on WM shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $214.21.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.2 %

WM stock traded down $2.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $210.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,650,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,589,993. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.71 and a 52-week high of $214.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm's revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.10%.

Waste Management 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.

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