Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 13,137 Shares of Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 4.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 300,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,137 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $68,783,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WM. McAdam LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 3.1% during the first quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,482 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 2.0% in the second quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 2,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its stake in Waste Management by 1.1% in the second quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 4,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 3.1% in the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,509 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial set a $260.00 price objective on Waste Management in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $277.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Waste Management from $245.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. National Bankshares decreased their price objective on Waste Management from $250.00 to $243.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Waste Management from $264.00 to $254.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.25.

Waste Management Stock Performance

Waste Management stock opened at $208.97 on Friday. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $194.11 and a fifty-two week high of $242.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $84.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $212.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.42.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.03). Waste Management had a net margin of 10.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The firm had revenue of $6.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Waste Management has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.97%.

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.