Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Has $419,000 Stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 36.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,078 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after purchasing an additional 538,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Waste Management by 7.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,897,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $803,819,000 after acquiring an additional 25,801 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $227.80 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $91.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $224.57 and its 200-day moving average is $216.51.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total value of $46,094.95. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,999,506.30. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,446.72. This trade represents a 5.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WM. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Waste Management from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.65.

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.