Bill Gates, the co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been involved in philanthropy since the 1990s.
At present, the Gates Foundation is the third-largest charitable foundation in the world. In order to finance its activities, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust maintains an expansive equity portfolio.
Stability is a priority for the Trust — so it mostly invests in proven, blue-chip stocks, most of which have steady, reliable dividend payments. In addition, the portfolio is highly concentrated — with 4 holdings accounting for 80% of its value.
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One of those stocks is Waste Management (NYSE: WM) — the portfolio’s third-largest holding, with WM stock representing 15% of the Foundation Trust’s asset base.
At press time, Waste Management shares were trading at $222.09, having seen prices increase by 10.06% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.
However, two key insiders have begun to dump WM stock in February — potentially signaling that trouble is on the horizon.
Two C-suite executives dump $1 million of Bill Gates stock each
On February 4, two key company insiders made significant sales of Waste Management stock, as identified by Finbold’s insider trading radar from SEC Form 4 filings made public on the same day.
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This signal is triggered upon the reporting of the trade to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Devina Rankin, the company’s executive vice president (EVP) and chief financial officer (CFO) sold 5,826 WM shares at an average price of $222.12. In total, her transaction was worth roughly $1,294,071. Following the sale, Rankin still holds 69,442 units of Waste Management stock.
Furthermore, Tara Hemmer, the chief sustainability officer (CSO) and senior vice president sold 4,576 WM shares — also at an average price of $222.12. In total, her transaction was worth roughly $1,016,421. With the sale concluded, Hemmer continues to hold 58,768 Waste Management shares.
A simple explanation for the sales presents itself. On January 29, Waste Management held its Q4 and full-year 2024 earnings call.
Results were mixed — while revenues came in slightly above consensus analyst estimates, earnings per share (EPS) missed the mark at $1.70, versus the forecast of $1.80.
In addition, that figure represents a 2.3% decline in earnings on a year-over-year (YoY) basis. However, Wall Street remains cautiously optimistic — and so do investors. There was no pullback after the report — on the contrary, the Bill Gates stock has surged by 6.01% since its release, and analysts have generally revised their price targets on the stock upward — although most project only modest capital appreciation in the next 12 months.
Featured image via Shutterstock
