How to buy Waste Management stock (WM)

Waste Management is a waste management business based in the US. Waste Management shares (WM) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Its last market close was $208.26 – a decrease of 1.32% over the previous week. Waste Management employs 48,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around $21 billion.

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Waste Management stock price (NYSE: WM)

Use our graph to track the performance of WM stocks over time.

Waste Management shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2024-10-28.

Latest market close	$208.26
52-week range	$159.61 - $224.19
50-day moving average more info button	$208.64
200-day moving average more info button	$205.92
Wall St. target price	$226.74
PE ratio more info button	32.8776
Dividend yield more info button	$2.9 (1.45%)
Earnings per share (TTM) more info button	$6.29

Is it a good time to buy Waste Management stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Waste Management price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $206.8 from 2024-10-25

1 week (2024-10-22)	-2.01%
1 month (2024-09-30)	-0.39%
3 months (2024-07-30)	2.83%
6 months (2024-04-30)	-0.59%

1 year (2023-10-30)	27.07%
2 years (2022-10-28)	30.96%
3 years (2021-10-29)	29.06%
5 years (2019-10-30)	90.28%

Is Waste Management stock undervalued or overvalued?

Valuing Waste Management stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Waste Management's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Waste Management's P/E ratio

Waste Management's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 33x. In other words, Waste Management shares trade at around 33x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Waste Management's PEG ratio

Waste Management's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.4971. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Waste Management's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Waste Management's EBITDA

Waste Management's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is $6.2 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Waste Management's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Waste Management financials

Revenue TTM	$21 billion
Operating margin TTM	19.75%
Gross profit TTM	$7.4 billion
Return on assets TTM	7.88%
Return on equity TTM	35.02%
Profit margin	12.13%
Book value	$18.59
Market Capitalization more info button	$85 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Waste Management's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Waste Management.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Waste Management's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 10.59

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Waste Management's overall score of 10.59 (as at 12/31/2018) is excellent – landing it in it in the 5th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Waste Management is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Waste Management's environmental score

Environmental score: 3.19/100

Waste Management's social score

Social score: 3.11/100

Waste Management's governance score

Governance score: 0.22/100

Waste Management's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Waste Management scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Waste Management has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Waste Management Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	10.59
Total ESG percentile	5.48
Environmental score	3.19
Social score	3.11
Governance score	0.22
Level of controversy	2

Waste Management share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 42.51% of net profits

Recently Waste Management has paid out, on average, around 0% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Waste Management shareholders could enjoy a 0% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Waste Management's case, that would currently equate to about $2.9 per share.

While Waste Management's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Waste Management may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Waste Management's most recent dividend payout was on 26 September 2024. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 12 September 2024 (the "ex-dividend date").

Waste Management share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Waste Management's shares have ranged in value from as little as $159.6147 up to $224.1882. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Waste Management's is 0.751. This would suggest that Waste Management's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Waste Management overview

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. As of December 31, 2022, the company owned or operated 254 solid waste landfills, five secure hazardous waste landfills, 97 MRFs, and 337 transfer stations. It also provides materials processing and commodities recycling services at its MRFs, where cardboard, paper, glass, metals, plastics, construction and demolition materials, and other recycling commodities are recovered for resale or redirected for other purposes; recycling brokerage services, such as managing the marketing of recyclable materials for third parties; and other strategic business solutions. In addition, the company offers construction and remediation services; services related with the disposal of fly ash, and residue generated from the combustion of coal and other fuel stocks; in-plant services comprising full-service waste management solutions and consulting services; and specialized disposal services for oil and gas exploration and production operations. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc.

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of Waste Management is owned by insiders or institutions?
Currently 0.215% of Waste Management shares are held by insiders and 83.81% by institutions. How many people work for Waste Management?
Latest data suggests 48,000 work at Waste Management. When does the fiscal year end for Waste Management?
Waste Management's fiscal year ends in December. Where is Waste Management based?
Waste Management's address is: 800 Capitol Street, Houston, TX, United States, 77002 What is Waste Management's ISIN number?
Waste Management's international securities identification number is: US94106L1098 What is Waste Management's CUSIP number?
Waste Management's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 902917103