Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Stock Has Average Target Price of $257.89 According to Analysts

Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $257.04.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Waste Management from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $275.00 to $241.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Waste Management from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, CAO John Carroll sold 1,365 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total transaction of $300,163.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $771,629.10. The trade was a 28.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Management

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.8% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,733,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,849,981,000 after purchasing an additional 535,079 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,008,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,013,831,000 after acquiring an additional 507,209 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,121,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $695,704,000 after acquiring an additional 35,322 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Waste Management by 17.0% during the first quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,392,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $549,857,000 after acquiring an additional 348,183 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,320,966 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $533,340,000 after acquiring an additional 26,847 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:WM opened at $236.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.04 billion, a PE ratio of 31.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. Waste Management has a 1 year low of $197.47 and a 1 year high of $248.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $219.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $225.59.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by ($0.03). Waste Management had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 31.97%. The company had revenue of $6.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Waste Management will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a $0.9450 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $3.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.61%.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc, doing business as WM (NYSE:WM), is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, transportation, disposal, recycling and resource-recovery services. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers through a network of collection operations, transfer stations, landfills, recycling facilities and other environmental infrastructure.

WM’s services include curbside and commercial waste collection, construction and demolition debris management, recycling, organics processing and landfill disposal.