Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-two brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $247.06.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WM. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Waste Management to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. National Bank Financial upgraded Waste Management to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Johnson Varkey sold 124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.96, for a total value of $29,135.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,995,045.36. This trade represents a 1.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,385 shares of company stock worth $6,636,603 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Management

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $1,009,726,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $442,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902,081 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at $340,611,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Management during the first quarter valued at $333,089,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Management by 30.4% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,316,443 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,233,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239,996 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of WM traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $237.72. The company had a trading volume of 695,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,659,407. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $229.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Management has a 1 year low of $196.59 and a 1 year high of $239.32.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm's revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Management will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Waste Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.77%.

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.