Realta Investment Advisors Sells 2,701 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Realta Investment Advisors reduced its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 66.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,701 shares during the quarter. Realta Investment Advisors’ holdings in Waste Management were worth $287,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Interstate Bank boosted its stake in Waste Management by 20.6% during the third quarter. First Interstate Bank now owns 1,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 11.3% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 8,581 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 14.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $847,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 1.7% during the third quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 109,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its stake in Waste Management by 3.5% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 154,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,082,000 after acquiring an additional 5,178 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WM shares. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $220.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $224.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.05.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE WM opened at $213.99 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.34 and a 52-week high of $225.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $85.89 billion, a PE ratio of 32.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 45.87%.

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.