Gateway Wealth Partners LLC Takes Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,073 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Activest Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 4,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in Waste Management by 892.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. General Partner Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Waste Management in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised shares of Waste Management from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $225.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $209.93 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.77. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $184.72 and a 1-year high of $230.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $212.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued 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. Waste Management had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.87%.

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.