Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Receives $230.72 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $230.72.

WM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. CIBC raised their price target on Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of WM stock traded up $1.58 on Wednesday, reaching $205.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 711,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,629,076. The company has a market capitalization of $82.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.75. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $217.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. Waste Management has a 1 year low of $175.74 and a 1 year high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Waste Management will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waste Management

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WM. Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in Waste Management by 4,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 123 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 62.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 171 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Waste Management during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 51.8% during the third quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 211 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during 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.