Oppenheimer Raises Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Price Target to $228.00

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) had its price objective boosted by Oppenheimer from $221.00 to $228.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on WM. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Management from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Waste Management from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $215.88.

Waste Management Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of WM opened at $212.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $85.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management has a 1 year low of $149.71 and a 1 year high of $214.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $187.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Waste Management will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total value of $1,844,111.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Waste Management news, EVP John J. Morris sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.46, for a total transaction of $1,844,111.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,804,339.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waste Management

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WM. OFI Invest Asset Management grew its position in Waste Management by 65.0% during the first quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 47,917 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,776,000 after buying an additional 18,876 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 347,361 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,040,000 after acquiring an additional 31,538 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 278,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,264,000 after purchasing an additional 5,639 shares during the period. Field & Main Bank lifted its position in Waste Management by 0.5% during the first quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 11,649 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Management by 4.4% during the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 5,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

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.