Argus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Waste Management (NYSE:WM) Stock

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) had its target price increased by equities researchers at Argus from $230.00 to $240.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Argus’ target price points to a potential upside of 11.50% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WM. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. William Blair initiated coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. CIBC upped their target price on Waste Management from $213.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.05.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM traded up $0.43 on Thursday, hitting $215.25. The company had a trading volume of 199,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,614,923. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $209.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management has a 52 week low of $162.03 and a 52 week high of $225.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. Waste Management had a return on equity of 39.52% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. Waste Management’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,523,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $969,401,000 after purchasing an additional 12,664 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 44.6% in 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Waste Management by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,846,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $820,539,000 after buying an additional 243,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Waste Management by 94,414.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $538,013,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 11.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,217,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $473,047,000 after purchasing an additional 221,380 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.