Brokerages Set Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) PT at $204.85

Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $204.85.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. HSBC lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Waste Management from $184.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group cut Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th.

Waste Management Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of WM opened at $207.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.58, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.72. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $207.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.40. Waste Management has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 36.51% and a net margin of 11.28%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Waste Management will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total value of $69,075.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,640,641.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Management

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 8.5% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,407,000 after buying an additional 2,272 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Management by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 22,455 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 500,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

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.