Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Buys 849 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,770 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in Waste Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Spirit of America Management Corp NY raised its stake in Waste Management by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Waste Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM traded down $2.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $210.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,650,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,589,993. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.71 and a twelve month high of $214.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.87.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.10%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total transaction of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Waste Management news, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 775 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.58, for a total value of $153,899.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,204 shares in the company, valued at $14,934,010.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total value of $363,937.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 55,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,353,349.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on WM shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.21.

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.