Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Price Target Lowered to $240.00 at UBS Group

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) had its target price cut by UBS Group from $265.00 to $240.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank boosted 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 report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $229.00 target price on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $252.00 target price on the stock. National Bankshares decreased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $250.00 to $243.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $275.00 to $268.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.00.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of WM stock opened at $212.99 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $221.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $227.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51. The stock has a market cap of $85.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.64. Waste Management has a twelve month low of $199.69 and a twelve month high of $242.58.

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

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 48.96%.

Institutional Trading of Waste Management

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,662,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,617,866,000 after buying an additional 292,868 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,647,146 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,972,856,000 after buying an additional 126,329 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,390,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,232,131,000 after buying an additional 74,528 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the second quarter worth approximately $1,064,206,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 1.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,067,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,709,000 after buying an additional 70,907 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.