Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

by · The Cerbat Gem

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management (NYSE:WM – Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a sector perform rating and a $211.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Waste Management from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. HSBC lowered Waste Management from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Waste Management from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $204.85.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on WM

Waste Management Stock Down 0.3 %

WM stock opened at $205.38 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $205.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.15. Waste Management has a fifty-two week low of $149.71 and a fifty-two week high of $214.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $82.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Waste Management will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 53.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $33,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 56,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,219,441. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Waste Management news, Director John C. Pope sold 185 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $33,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 56,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,219,441. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 30,242 shares of company stock worth $5,929,355. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,407,000 after purchasing an additional 2,272 shares in the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,455,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 93.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,348,000 after purchasing an additional 22,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,319,000 after purchasing an additional 500,701 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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