Oppenheimer Has Lowered Expectations for Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Stock Price

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $265.00 to $262.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.43% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WM. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $245.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Waste Management from $275.00 to $268.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.32.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM opened at $217.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.86. Waste Management has a twelve month low of $199.69 and a twelve month high of $242.58. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $223.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $228.03. The firm has a market cap of $87.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.28, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.64.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. Waste Management has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Waste Management will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,662,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,617,866,000 after purchasing an additional 292,868 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,647,146 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,972,856,000 after purchasing an additional 126,329 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Waste Management by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,390,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,232,131,000 after purchasing an additional 74,528 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,064,206,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Waste Management by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,067,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,709,000 after purchasing an additional 70,907 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.