Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WM. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 26,095.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,909,370 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $442,038,000 after acquiring an additional 1,902,081 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Waste Management in the first quarter valued at about $333,089,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 30.4% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,316,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,233,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239,996 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 16,999.3% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 661,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $153,043,000 after acquiring an additional 657,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 210.0% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 713,162 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $165,104,000 after acquiring an additional 483,132 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WM. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Monday, June 9th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $229.00 price target on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $225.00 to $277.00 in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.35.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Waste Management stock opened at $219.15 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $229.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.28 billion, a PE ratio of 32.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.64. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1-year low of $199.69 and a 1-year high of $242.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. Waste Management has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.96%.

Waste Management 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.