Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Receives $239.53 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $243.29.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Waste Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total transaction of $29,135.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,995,045.36. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 44,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $10,143,434.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 211,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,212,664.23. This represents a 17.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,924 shares of company stock worth $21,298,176. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Waste Management by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,759,000 after buying an additional 28,266 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,980,000 after acquiring an additional 4,798 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.2 %

Waste Management stock opened at $233.97 on Tuesday. Waste Management has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $239.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.13 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $228.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $220.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Waste Management will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.77%.

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.