William Blair Expects Weaker Earnings for Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) – Research analysts at William Blair reduced their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Waste Management in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, March 18th. William Blair analyst T. Romeo now expects that the business services provider will earn $1.68 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $1.78. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Waste Management’s current full-year earnings is $7.70 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Waste Management’s Q2 2025 earnings at $2.00 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.13 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.94 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.30 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.45 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $2.29 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.98 EPS.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 37.93%.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Waste Management from $231.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Waste Management from $242.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Waste Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.65.

Waste Management Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Waste Management stock opened at $226.83 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $91.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.75. Waste Management has a 52-week low of $196.59 and a 52-week high of $235.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.73.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is an increase from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Waste Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Management

In other news, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total transaction of $282,625.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,902,246.40. The trade was a 12.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Morris sold 19,153 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.71, for a total value of $4,303,870.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,158,100.47. This trade represents a 18.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 95,577 shares of company stock worth $21,662,464. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Management

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 278,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Waste Management by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,240,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $854,446,000 after purchasing an additional 280,455 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 480,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,759,000 after buying an additional 28,266 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Management by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Waste Management by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 79,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,980,000 after buying an additional 4,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.40% of the company’s stock.

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.