Dark Forest Capital Management LP Has $787,000 Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 148.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,900 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,330 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP's holdings in Waste Management were worth $787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alta Advisers Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 1,178 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,219 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 7,312 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,475,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,963 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,221,000 after buying an additional 2,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 121,696 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $24,557,000 after buying an additional 7,462 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $10,143,434.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. This trade represents a 17.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WM. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Tuesday. CIBC upped their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $241.82.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM stock traded up $1.65 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $230.45. The company had a trading volume of 351,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,644,114. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.59 and a 12 month high of $239.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm's fifty day moving average is $227.95 and its 200 day moving average is $219.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.87, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.75 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

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.