Cascade Investment LLC, a major holder of Republic Services Inc (RSG), recently added 362,747 shares. The buy increased the fund’s holdings by 0.33 percent, and came to a total cost of just over $42.5 million.
Cascade is best known as the fund owned by billionaire Bill Gates, for his personal holdings outside of Microsoft. The fund last bought nearly a year ago, with a mere 10,055 share buy for about $1 million even.
While the fund has been a regular buyer, company insiders have been more likely to be sellers than buyers over the past two years.
Overall, company insiders own just under 0.2 percent of shares.
Shares of the waste management company are up 31 percent in the past year, beating the S&P 500 by over 20 points. The company has seen double-digit revenue and earnings growth in the same timeframe.
Action to take: Shares are a little expensive at over 20 times forward earnings, but waste services tend to act as a local monopoly, which makes for an attractive long-term holding. Shareholders can also lock in a 1.6 percent dividend yield from here.
For traders, shares are likely to continue to outperform the stock market in the short-term. The July $125 calls, last going for about $3.60, offer high double-digit returns from here.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.