Venturi Wealth Management LLC Purchases 758 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 242.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,146,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 11.3% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,120,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,063,072,000 after acquiring an additional 520,096 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 12.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,433,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,175,000 after acquiring an additional 276,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,087,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $433,262,000 after acquiring an additional 18,983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Argus boosted their price target on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank boosted their price target 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.94.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of WM stock opened at $227.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market cap of $91.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.00. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (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%. On average, research analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.89, for a total transaction of $903,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,531 shares in the company, valued at $4,185,967.59. This represents a 17.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total value of $46,094.95. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,999,506.30. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,055 shares of company stock worth $3,578,340 over the last three months. 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.