UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC Buys 709,557 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Key Points

• UBS Asset Management increased its stake in Waste Management by 26.9% in Q1, acquiring an additional 709,557 shares, bringing their total to approximately $774 million in value.
• Recent reports from research firms have raised the stock's target price, with UBS Group setting it at $265.00 and Melius Research upgrading it to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating bullish sentiment from analysts.
• Waste Management announced a quarterly dividend of $0.825 per share, with an ex-dividend date of September 12, reflecting a 1.5% dividend yield.

UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Free Report) by 26.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,343,267 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 709,557 shares during the quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned about 0.83% of Waste Management worth $774,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 26,095.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,909,370 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $442,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902,081 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the 1st quarter worth about $333,089,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,316,443 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,233,240,000 after buying an additional 1,239,996 shares during the period. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth about $205,506,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 16,999.3% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 661,060 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $153,043,000 after buying an additional 657,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on WM. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $229.00 target price on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Management to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 26th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Waste Management to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $263.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $254.35.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WM opened at $219.03 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51. The stock has a market cap of $88.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.60. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $199.69 and a 12 month high of $242.58.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. Waste Management has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Waste Management's payout ratio is 48.96%.

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.

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