United Asset Strategies Inc. Buys 980 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

United Asset Strategies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 980 shares during the quarter. Waste Management comprises about 1.2% of United Asset Strategies Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $12,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WM. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,203,000 after buying an additional 168,818 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $538,013,000 after buying an additional 2,588,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Waste Management by 12.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,175,000 after acquiring an additional 276,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WM shares. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $209.43 on Monday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $183.00 and a 12-month high of $230.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market cap of $84.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $212.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.28.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 45.87%.

Waste Management 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.