Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.83

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.825 per share by the business services provider on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75.

Waste Management has raised its dividend by an average of 9.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Waste Management has a payout ratio of 34.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Waste Management to earn $8.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.2%.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.5 %

WM stock traded down $1.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $227.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,709,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,809. The company has a market cap of $91.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.78. The business's 50 day moving average price is $213.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.81. 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 12 month low of $196.59 and a 12 month high of $230.39.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.88% and a net margin of 12.45%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Waste Management will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,349,728.38. This represents a 3.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 209 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.55, for a total value of $46,094.95. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,999,506.30. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,055 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,340. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WM. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.94.

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.