New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Boosts Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,366 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $4,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 810 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 1,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 2,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Financial Services CORP. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 3,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total transaction of $859,610.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,324,156.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WM has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Waste Management from $207.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. CIBC upped their price objective on Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.61.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WM stock traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $213.34. The stock had a trading volume of 2,908,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,412. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.71 and a 12-month high of $214.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $208.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $199.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.10%.

Waste Management Company 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.