Raymond James Boosts Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Price Target to $229.00

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) had its price objective hoisted by Raymond James from $219.00 to $229.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Raymond James’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 8.49% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on WM. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. HSBC lowered Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Waste Management from $221.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.21.

Waste Management Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Waste Management stock traded down $1.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $211.07. 859,300 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,661,020. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $208.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.50. Waste Management has a 1-year low of $149.71 and a 1-year high of $214.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.70 billion, a PE ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Waste Management will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.56, for a total transaction of $65,326.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total value of $69,075.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,218 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,641.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock valued at $3,696,520 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Management

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 28,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,272 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 22,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,455,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Waste Management by 93.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,348,000 after buying an additional 22,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 13,927.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 504,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,319,000 after buying an additional 500,701 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.