Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Receives $251.29 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $251.29.

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. National Bank Financial upgraded Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $229.00 price target on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Thursday, June 26th.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE WM opened at $225.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $232.00 and its 200 day moving average is $226.05. Waste Management has a twelve month low of $196.59 and a twelve month high of $242.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.88 billion, a PE ratio of 34.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.64.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Waste Management had a return on equity of 35.67% and a net margin of 11.67%. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Waste Management will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.77%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 674 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.81, for a total transaction of $159,609.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 16,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,917,311.02. The trade was a 3.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $13,740,295.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 83,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,922,574.24. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after buying an additional 538,567 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,654,173,000 after purchasing an additional 64,260 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 30.4% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,316,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,233,240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239,996 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,009,726,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.8% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,067,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $941,709,000 after purchasing an additional 70,907 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Company Profile

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.