Aberdeen Group plc Lowers Stock Holdings in Waste Management, Inc. $WM

Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its holdings in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 624,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 96,649 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $142,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC now owns 9,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,158,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Waste Management by 82.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,670 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,248,000 after acquiring an additional 10,272 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its holdings in Waste Management by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 20,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,661,000 after acquiring an additional 4,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Waste Management by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 89,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $20,482,000 after acquiring an additional 5,620 shares during the last quarter. 80.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Management Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:WM opened at $219.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $199.69 and a 12 month high of $242.58. The company has a market cap of $88.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $227.98.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.03. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 34.37%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Waste Management has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is presently 48.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $272.00 to $271.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Waste Management from $265.00 to $262.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.32.

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.