Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The business services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by ($0.03), FiscalAI reports. Waste Management had a return on equity of 31.68% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $6.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.81 billion.

Waste Management Price Performance

Waste Management stock traded down $5.71 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $235.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,902,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,197,933. Waste Management has a 1-year low of $194.11 and a 1-year high of $248.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $216.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.9450 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $3.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 53.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WM. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Waste Management from $270.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Waste Management from $230.00 to $220.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings raised Waste Management from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Waste Management from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $256.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, CAO John Carroll sold 1,365 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.90, for a total transaction of $300,163.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $771,629.10. This trade represents a 28.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc, doing business as WM (NYSE:WM), is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, transportation, disposal, recycling and resource-recovery services. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers through a network of collection operations, transfer stations, landfills, recycling facilities and other environmental infrastructure.

WM’s services include curbside and commercial waste collection, construction and demolition debris management, recycling, organics processing and landfill disposal.