Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Price Target Increased to $228.00 by Analysts at Oppenheimer

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) had its target price hoisted by Oppenheimer from $221.00 to $228.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Management from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $202.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, HSBC downgraded 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 note on Thursday, February 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $214.21.

Waste Management Stock Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $210.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $208.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.87. 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 has a 12 month low of $149.71 and a 12 month high of $214.54.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. 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 prior year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Management will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were 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 owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Waste Management news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 329 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,448.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total transaction of $523,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,217,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,007 shares of company stock worth $3,696,520 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $784,486,000. abrdn plc increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 315.7% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,457,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $222,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,773 shares in the last quarter. Mirova US LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 26,116.4% during the 4th quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 913,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $163,680,000 after purchasing an additional 910,418 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,923,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $523,581,000 after purchasing an additional 844,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 776,491 shares in the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Management Company Profile

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.