Waste Management, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.75 (NYSE:WM)

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the business services provider on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%.

Waste Management has raised its dividend by an average of 8.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Waste Management has a dividend payout ratio of 37.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Waste Management to earn $8.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.4%.

Waste Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WM traded down $3.96 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $221.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,215,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,616,502. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $211.08 and a 200-day moving average of $209.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $88.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Management has a 12-month low of $168.73 and a 12-month high of $226.84.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.88%. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Waste Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Waste Management will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on WM. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Waste Management from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair began coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $220.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $213.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.11.

Insider Transactions at Waste Management

In related news, Director Maryrose Sylvester sold 310 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $66,795.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,946.25. This trade represents a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.