Waste Management (WM) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. As of December 31, 2022, the company owned or operated 254 solid waste landfills, five secure hazardous waste landfills, 97 MRFs, and 337 transfer stations. It also provides materials processing and commodities recycling services at its MRFs, where cardboard, paper, glass, metals, plastics, construction and demolition materials, and other recycling commodities are recovered for resale or redirected for other purposes; recycling brokerage services, such as managing the marketing of recyclable materials for third parties; and other strategic business solutions. In addition, the company offers construction and remediation services; services related with the disposal of fly ash, and residue generated from the combustion of coal and other fuel stocks; in-plant services comprising full-service waste management solutions and consulting services; and specialized disposal services for oil and gas exploration and production operations. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc. and changed its name to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. Waste Management, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $228.05 to $230.27
• 50-Day Range: $204.10 to $228.50
• 52-Week Range: $168.73 to $230.39
• Volume: 1.25 million shs
• Average Volume: 1.61 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $91.60 billion
• P/E Ratio: 34.90
• Dividend Yield: 1.31%
• Price Target: $228.94
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Waste Management Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Waste Management scored higher than 97% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 18th out of 333 stocks in the business services sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Waste Management has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.57, and is based on 10 buy ratings, 10 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Waste Management has been the subject of 11 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 9.70%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Waste Management are expected to grow by 9.70% in the coming year, from $7.32 to $8.03 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Waste Management is 34.90, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 128.24.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Waste Management is 34.90, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Business Services sector average P/E ratio of about 38.26.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Waste Management has a PEG Ratio of 2.40. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Waste Management has a P/B Ratio of 11.49. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.76% of the float of Waste Management has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Waste Management has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.1, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Waste Management has recently increased by 0.66%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Waste Management pays a meaningful dividend of 1.31%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Waste Management has been increasing its dividend for 21 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Waste Management is 45.87%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Waste Management will have a dividend payout ratio of 37.36% next year. This indicates that Waste Management will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 3.2 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.80

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.76% of the float of Waste Management has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Waste Management has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.1, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Waste Management has recently increased by 0.66%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.93

News Sentiment

Waste Management has a news sentiment score of 0.93. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.75 average news sentiment score of Business Services companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 22 news articles for Waste Management this week, compared to 13 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 18 people have searched for WM on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -40% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

22 people have added Waste Management to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Waste Management insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $66,796.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.18% of the stock of Waste Management is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

80.40% of the stock of Waste Management is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

WM Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have WM shares performed this year?

Waste Management's stock was trading at $179.10 at the beginning of 2024. Since then, WM shares have increased by 27.4% and is now trading at $228.22.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Waste Management's earnings last quarter?

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) posted its earnings results on Monday, October, 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

Is Waste Management doing a stock buyback?

Waste Management's board approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 8th 2022, which allows the company to buy back $1,500,000,000 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could purchase up to 2.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Does Waste Management have any subsidiaries?

Waste Management subsidiaries include Advanced Disposal Services, Anderson Rubbish Disposal, Illini Disposal, Deffenbaugh Industries Inc., Liquid Logistics, Summit Energy Services Inc, Greenstar Recycling LLC, and more.

Who are Waste Management's major shareholders?

Waste Management's top institutional investors include State Street Corp (4.59%), Geode Capital Management LLC (2.03%), Parnassus Investments LLC (1.28%) and International Assets Investment Management LLC (0.65%). Insiders that own company stock include James C Fish Jr, John J Morris, John C Pope, Tara J Hemmer, Michael J Watson, Nikolaj H Sjoqvist, Charles C Boettcher, Rafael Carrasco, Christopher P Desantis, John A Carroll, Donald J Smith, Leslie K Nagy, Maryrose Sylvester, Kelly C Rooney and Bruce E Chinn.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Waste Management?

Shares of WM stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Waste Management own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Waste Management investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Humana (HUM), Chevron (CVX), American Water Works (AWK), Verizon Communications (VZ), Waste Connections (WCN) and Meta Platforms (META).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 9/27 Dividend: 9/13/2024
• Dividend Payable: 9/27/2024
• Last Earnings: 10/28/2024
• Today: 11/29/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 12/20 Dividend: 12/06/2024
• Dividend Payable: 12/20/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 2/10/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Business Services
• Industry: Refuse systems
• Sub-Industry: Environmental & Facilities Services
• Current Symbol: NYSE:WM
• CUSIP: 94106L10
• CIK: 823768
• Web: www.wm.com
• Phone: (713) 512-6200
• Fax: 713-512-6299
• Employees: 48,000
• Year Founded: 1968

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $228.94
• High Stock Price Target: $256.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $210.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -0.1%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.57
• Research Coverage: 21 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $6.54
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 35.03
• Forward P/E Ratio: 31.29
• P/E Growth: 2.4
• Net Income: $2.30 billion
• Net Margins: 12.35%
• Pretax Margin: 15.91%
• Return on Equity: 39.88%
• Return on Assets: 8.73%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 2.00
• Current Ratio: 0.89
• Quick Ratio: 0.85

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $20.43 billion
• Price / Sales: 4.50
• Cash Flow: $12.17 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 18.83
• Book Value: $19.86 per share
• Price / Book: 11.53

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 401,370,000
• Free Float: 400,644,000
• Market Cap: $91.94 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.74