Bard Financial Services Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Bard Financial Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,925 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 295 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $7,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after acquiring an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 124,848 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,193,000 after acquiring an additional 15,974 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 4,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 34,115 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,884,000 after acquiring an additional 3,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 200,294 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,417,000 after acquiring an additional 14,840 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Monday, June 9th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Melius Research raised shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $263.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.35.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $218.22 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $199.69 and a 1 year high of $242.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $227.06 and its 200 day moving average is $229.30.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The business’s revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Waste Management has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 48.96%.

Waste Management 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.