New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $117.62 Million Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 582,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.15% of Waste Management worth $117,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 67.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,765,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,537,000 after purchasing an additional 709,678 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 32.2% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.8% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,567 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 14.0% during the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 7,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,468,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.6% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 14,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,919,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE WM opened at $228.38 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $91.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.78. Waste Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $230.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $212.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 38.88%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 44.12%.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 560 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.11, for a total transaction of $123,261.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,446.72. The trade was a 5.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 693 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.59, for a total value of $152,868.87. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,046,109.78. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,055 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,340 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WM shares. Scotiabank raised 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.94.

Waste Management 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.