Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Decreases Stock Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC decreased its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,486 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 123 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after buying an additional 520,096 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Waste Management by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,523,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $969,401,000 after purchasing an additional 12,664 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,846,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $820,539,000 after purchasing an additional 243,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $538,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,842 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,217,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $473,047,000 after purchasing an additional 221,380 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,946.25. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $228.22 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $215.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.69. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.73 and a 1-year high of $230.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus upped their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $220.00 price target for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.94.

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.