Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Sells 2,115 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC reduced its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 179,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,115 shares during the quarter. Waste Management comprises 2.3% of Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $37,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,523,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $969,401,000 after purchasing an additional 12,664 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 44.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,226,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $900,957,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,466 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,846,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $820,539,000 after purchasing an additional 243,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $538,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,217,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $473,047,000 after purchasing an additional 221,380 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on WM. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. CIBC reduced their price target on Waste Management from $223.00 to $213.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Waste Management from $226.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $213.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Waste Management from $229.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.89.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $208.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.36 and a 1 year high of $225.00. The company has a market capitalization of $83.84 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of $208.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.82. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.52%. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.69%.

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.