Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Management (NYSE:WM) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Argus lifted their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Management from $230.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Waste Management from $214.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.11.

Waste Management Trading Down 1.7 %

WM opened at $217.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.46 billion, a PE ratio of 33.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Waste Management has a fifty-two week low of $168.73 and a fifty-two week high of $226.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $211.61 and its 200 day moving average is $209.71.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.88% and a net margin of 12.35%. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Waste Management will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 45.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $66,795.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,875 shares in the company, valued at $834,946.25. This represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new position in Waste Management during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,963,000. Nwam LLC lifted its stake in Waste Management by 11.5% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 3,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors boosted its holdings in Waste Management by 13.6% in the first quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 3,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association increased its position in Waste Management by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 19,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,194,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 235.3% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 353,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $75,341,000 after purchasing an additional 248,085 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

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.