Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,183 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,183 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in Waste Management during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its holdings in Waste Management by 66.7% during the third quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 40.1% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.85.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM traded up $1.65 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $210.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,828,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,506. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $208.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $149.71 and a one year high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.51%. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total transaction of $363,937.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 55,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,353,349.93. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total value of $69,075.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,640,641.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total transaction of $363,937.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 55,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,353,349.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.