Waste Management, Inc. $WM Shares Sold by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management cut its stake in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 243 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Waste Management were worth $905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WM. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 126.9% during the 1st quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 118 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC increased its stake in Waste Management by 69.0% during the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in Waste Management during the first quarter worth $37,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Waste Management during the first quarter worth $38,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Management during the 1st quarter worth about $45,000. 80.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WM. CIBC raised their price objective on Waste Management from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Waste Management to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $263.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, June 9th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $255.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Waste Management from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.17.

Waste Management Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $219.77 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 stock has a market cap of $88.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $224.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.26.

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

Waste Management Dividend Announcement

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

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.