Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Raised to "Buy" at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. HSBC currently has $265.00 target price on the business services provider's stock, up from their prior target price of $210.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WM. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, January 31st. CIBC raised their price objective on Waste Management from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Waste Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $241.82.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM traded up $2.55 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $231.35. 505,306 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,644,785. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $227.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $219.96. Waste Management has a 52 week low of $196.59 and a 52 week high of $239.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $93.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is an increase from Waste Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Waste Management's payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 4,576 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $1,016,421.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,052,881.80. The trade was a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 4,000 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.89, for a total value of $903,560.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,185,967.59. The trade was a 17.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Waste Management by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,526,823,000 after acquiring an additional 538,567 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,371 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,654,173,000 after acquiring an additional 64,260 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,265,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 4th quarter worth $1,009,726,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $854,446,000 after buying an additional 280,455 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.