Waste Management (NYSE:WM) PT Raised to $212.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) had its price objective upped by BMO Capital Markets from $207.00 to $212.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $188.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Waste Management from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $214.21.

Waste Management Stock Down 1.2 %

Waste Management stock opened at $210.07 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.87. Waste Management has a fifty-two week low of $149.71 and a fifty-two week high of $214.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total value of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 3,275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.49, for a total transaction of $653,329.75. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,262,034.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waste Management

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,963,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,061,521,000 after buying an additional 46,084 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,366,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $827,815,000 after buying an additional 776,491 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,213,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $794,174,000 after buying an additional 66,816 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,799,687 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $859,624,000 after buying an additional 16,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $784,486,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.