Waste Management, Inc. $WM Stock Position Reduced by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC trimmed its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 59.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,780 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Management in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,064,206,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in shares of Waste Management by 444.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,206,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $487,157,000 after buying an additional 1,800,728 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Waste Management by 15,782.4% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,728,486 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $395,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717,603 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 55.5% in the second quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 2,897,636 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $663,037,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Waste Management by 982.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 886,164 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $195,692,000 after acquiring an additional 804,285 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Waste Management News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Waste Management this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple broker upgrades/price-target raises signal analyst confidence and create upside expectations — notable lifts include TD Cowen raising its target to $270 (Buy), Oppenheimer to $264 (Outperform), Wells Fargo to $250 (Overweight), Stifel to $252 (Buy) and RBC to $235 (Sector Perform). These raises help underpin demand and longer-term upside.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat piece argues WM is in a trend-following rally, supported by widening margins, accelerating free cash flow and a resumed buyback plan — factors that can sustain share-price appreciation. Waste Management’s “Boring” Business Is Powering a Quiet Rally
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend and buyback tailwinds: WM raised its dividend and signaled intent to resume repurchases (guidance assumes ~$2B in buybacks), improving shareholder-return prospects and offsetting share-based dilution over time. (Referenced in MarketBeat coverage.)
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry report notes long-term demand in specialized waste markets (solid control drilling waste mgmt. forecast to 2035) — a potential structural tailwind but only indirectly tied to WM’s near-term earnings. Solid Control Drilling Waste Management Market Size
• Neutral Sentiment: Full Q4 earnings call transcript is available for investors wanting detail on segment performance and management commentary; useful for parsing how sustainable margin and cash-flow commentary is. Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 results missed expectations on both EPS ($1.93 vs. ~$1.95 est.) and revenue (came up short of estimates). The miss pressured the stock as it undercut near-term growth/beat expectations that had supported the rally. Waste Management Stock Falls After Disappointing Q4 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance was slightly below Street expectations (revenue/growth assumptions modest), leaving room for disappointment if execution slips — this is the primary catalyst for short-term downside risk.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Management news, SVP Rafael Carrasco sold 1,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.06, for a total value of $299,542.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,540 shares in the company, valued at $3,373,112.40. This represents a 8.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Waste Management from $232.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. CIBC lowered their price objective on Waste Management from $235.00 to $231.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Waste Management from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group raised shares of Waste Management from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.55.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:WM opened at $222.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $89.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.16, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.89. Waste Management, Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.11 and a 1 year high of $242.58. The business has a fifty day moving average of $219.25 and a 200-day moving average of $219.22.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The business services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $6.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.39 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 10.74%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.25%.

Waste Management Company Profile

Waste Management, Inc (NYSE: WM) is a leading provider of integrated waste management and environmental services in North America. The company offers end-to-end solutions that span collection, transfer, disposal and recycling, along with landfill operations and related infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management serves a broad customer base that includes residential, commercial, industrial and municipal clients.

Core services include curbside and commercial waste collection, roll-off and temporary container services, materials recovery and recycling, and engineered landfill disposal.