Short Interest in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) Declines By 14.9%

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,760,000 shares, a drop of 14.9% from the March 31st total of 4,420,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,710,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WM shares. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $215.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Waste Management from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Waste Management from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $207.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Management news, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total transaction of $69,075.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,218 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,641.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Christopher P. Desantis sold 346 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.64, for a total transaction of $69,075.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,640,641.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles C. Boettcher sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.50, for a total value of $523,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Waste Management

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 275,964 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,068,000 after purchasing an additional 14,229 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA grew its stake in Waste Management by 8.8% during the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 213,511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,548,000 after purchasing an additional 17,276 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 112,059 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,082,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its position in shares of Waste Management by 85.7% during the third quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 6,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 102.8% during the 3rd quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 22,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,625,000 after purchasing an additional 11,291 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Management stock traded down $4.13 on Tuesday, hitting $208.02. The stock had a trading volume of 2,232,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,669,887. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $208.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.69. Waste Management has a twelve month low of $149.71 and a twelve month high of $214.54. The stock has a market cap of $83.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Waste Management will post 7.09 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is 49.10%.

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.