Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $898,000 Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lessened its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WM. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,686,203,000 after buying an additional 168,818 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after purchasing an additional 520,096 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $969,401,000 after purchasing an additional 12,664 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Waste Management by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $854,446,000 after acquiring an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in 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 valued at $820,539,000 after purchasing an additional 243,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on WM. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In related news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM traded up $0.97 on Friday, reaching $207.55. 788,401 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,503,849. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.38. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $177.83 and a 52-week high of $230.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market cap of $83.30 billion, a PE ratio of 31.74, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.77.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.87%.

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.