Smith Donald J 4

What Happened

• Donald J. Smith, Senior Vice President — Operations at Waste Management (WM), exercised stock options and sold shares on Feb 17, 2026. He exercised 2,465 options at $126.00 (cost $310,602) and 2,377 options at $110.81 (cost $263,395), acquiring 4,842 shares. Those exercised shares were simultaneously disposed (sell-to-cover). Separately, Smith sold 4,842 shares and 7,352 shares in open-market transactions at $233.48 per share, generating $1,130,510 and $1,716,545 respectively (about $2.85M total).

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-02-17
• Option exercises: 2,465 shares @ $126.00 = $310,602; 2,377 shares @ $110.81 = $263,395 (total option cost ≈ $573,997)
• Derivative disposals (sell-to-cover): 2,465 and 2,377 shares (matching the exercised amounts)
• Open-market sales: 4,842 shares @ $233.48 = $1,130,510; 7,352 shares @ $233.48 = $1,716,545 (total ≈ $2,847,055)
• Shares owned after the transactions: not specified in the provided filing details
• No 10b5-1 plan, late filing, or other footnotes were reported in the summary provided

Context

• The pattern (exercise of options followed by immediate disposal of the exercised shares) indicates a sell-to-cover or cashless exercise to satisfy option costs/taxes; additionally, Smith conducted separate open-market sales the same day. Sales are often routine (tax or diversification) and do not by themselves indicate management sentiment about the company’s prospects. Purchases are generally more informative for bullish signals; this filing shows net selling activity on the reported date.