Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,850,000 shares, an increase of 25.8% from the May 31st total of 3,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,760,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, VP Michael J. Watson sold 4,208 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.28, for a total value of $859,610.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,324,156.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Waste Management by 0.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,963,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,061,521,000 after acquiring an additional 46,084 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 1.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,213,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $794,174,000 after buying an additional 66,816 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,799,687 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $859,624,000 after buying an additional 16,213 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $784,486,000. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 44.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,226,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $900,957,000 after buying an additional 1,303,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WM shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Waste Management in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Waste Management from $211.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.61.

Waste Management Stock Up 0.1 %

WM traded up $0.11 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $209.47. 1,445,538 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,730,384. Waste Management has a 12-month low of $149.71 and a 12-month high of $214.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $200.23.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Waste Management will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 49.10%.

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.