Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $256.65.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WM. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $263.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Waste Management from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce decreased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CAO John Carroll sold 1,365 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total value of $300,163.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,509 shares in the company, valued at $771,629.10. This represents a 28.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Morgan Stanley Institutional Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Waste Management during the second quarter valued at approximately $322,479,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 279.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,075,906 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $236,387,000 after purchasing an additional 792,037 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 23,051.5% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 770,945 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,716,000 after purchasing an additional 767,615 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 2nd quarter valued at $146,053,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,733,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,849,981,000 after purchasing an additional 535,079 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM opened at $210.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $84.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.42. Waste Management has a 1 year low of $194.11 and a 1 year high of $248.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $216.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $222.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 31.68% and a net margin of 11.11%. Waste Management’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Waste Management will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.9450 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 53.54%.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc, doing business as WM (NYSE: WM), is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling and resource recovery services. Its customers include residential households, commercial businesses, industrial organizations and municipalities.

The company operates a network of collection operations, transfer stations, landfills, recycling facilities and waste-to-energy assets across the United States and Canada. Its services include curbside collection, dumpster and roll-off services, recycling, landfill disposal, organics management and specialized waste solutions.

Founded in 1968, WM has expanded from a traditional waste collection business into a broader provider of environmental and sustainability services.