Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Receives $248.00 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $248.00.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. HSBC upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $210.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.5%

WM stock opened at $231.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $93.34 billion, a PE ratio of 34.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $233.07 and its 200 day moving average is $224.05. Waste Management has a one year low of $196.59 and a one year high of $242.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.67% and a return on equity of 35.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Waste Management will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,917,311.02. The trade was a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Devina A. Rankin sold 57,888 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.36, for a total transaction of $13,740,295.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,934 shares in the company, valued at $19,922,574.24. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Management

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,009,726,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 26,095.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,909,370 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $442,038,000 after acquiring an additional 1,902,081 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $340,611,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $333,089,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,316,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,233,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239,996 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.