$4.45 Billion in Sales Expected for Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) This Quarter

Wall Street brokerages predict that Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM – Get Rating) will post $4.45 billion in sales for the current quarter, Zacks reports. Seven analysts have issued estimates for Waste Management’s earnings, with estimates ranging from $4.36 billion to $4.50 billion. Waste Management reported sales of $4.11 billion in the same quarter last year, which would suggest a positive year over year growth rate of 8.3%. The company is expected to report its next earnings report before the market opens on Monday, January 1st.

On average, analysts expect that Waste Management will report full-year sales of $19.03 billion for the current financial year, with estimates ranging from $19.00 billion to $19.06 billion. For the next financial year, analysts anticipate that the business will post sales of $20.06 billion, with estimates ranging from $19.84 billion to $20.45 billion. Zacks Investment Research’s sales calculations are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side research analysts that follow Waste Management.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. Waste Management had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 28.14%. The firm had revenue of $4.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. Waste Management’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

WM has been the subject of several research reports. Erste Group cut Waste Management to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 9th. StockNews.com started coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Waste Management in a research report on Tuesday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $153.00 price objective for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.88.

In related news, CEO James C. Fish, Jr. sold 28,976 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.05, for a total value of $4,579,656.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Tara J. Hemmer sold 10,910 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.15, for a total value of $1,550,856.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,223 shares of company stock worth $6,180,911 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Waste Management by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,708,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $519,634,000 after purchasing an additional 239,990 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Waste Management by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 177,968 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,935,000 after purchasing an additional 23,256 shares during the period. NEXT Financial Group Inc increased its stake in Waste Management by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. NEXT Financial Group Inc now owns 3,260 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Waste Management by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,154,000 after buying an additional 10,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Management in the 3rd quarter worth $204,000. 74.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NYSE:WM traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $161.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,799,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,067,094. The business’s 50 day moving average is $150.50 and its 200 day moving average is $156.13. Waste Management has a fifty-two week low of $132.03 and a fifty-two week high of $168.04. The stock has a market cap of $66.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.47, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Waste Management declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 9th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 16th. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. Waste Management’s payout ratio is currently 60.47%.

Waste Management Company Profile (Get Rating)

Waste Management, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides waste management environmental services to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in North America. 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, develops, and operates landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States, as well as owns and operates transfer stations.

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