Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Price Target Raised to $212.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) had its price objective increased by BMO Capital Markets from $207.00 to $212.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. HSBC lowered shares of Waste Management from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Waste Management from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $214.21.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of WM stock opened at $210.07 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.87. The company has a market cap of $84.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Management has a 52 week low of $149.71 and a 52 week high of $214.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Management will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 49.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total transaction of $363,937.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 55,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,353,349.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Waste Management news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 1,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total transaction of $363,937.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 55,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,353,349.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waste Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Waste Management by 0.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,963,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,061,521,000 after purchasing an additional 46,084 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 16.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,366,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $827,815,000 after acquiring an additional 776,491 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,213,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $794,174,000 after acquiring an additional 66,816 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,799,687 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $859,624,000 after acquiring an additional 16,213 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $784,486,000. 80.40% of the stock is 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.