Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 4,411 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 29.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,411 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $2,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 4,000.0% during the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 892.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. General Partner Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 65.7% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WM has been the topic of several recent research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.50.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $225.95 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $211.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.35. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.48 and a 52 week high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.88% and a net margin of 12.45%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.89, for a total value of $903,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,185,967.59. The trade was a 17.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 5,826 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,294,071.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,424,457.04. The trade was a 7.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,055 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,340 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.