State of Michigan Retirement System Has $20 Million Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,088 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $19,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after acquiring an additional 520,096 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Waste Management by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Waste Management by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,961,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $597,614,000 after purchasing an additional 157,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,175,000 after purchasing an additional 276,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. This trade represents a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total value of $29,135.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,995,045.36. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,406 shares of company stock valued at $15,076,127 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.7 %

WM stock opened at $229.86 on Wednesday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $235.81. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $216.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.38. The company has a market capitalization of $92.43 billion, a PE ratio of 33.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 48.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. CIBC lifted their price target on Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.94.

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.