Shares of Waste Management, Inc. (WM) gained 1.3% in Thursday’s extended trading session after the company announced plans to increase its quarterly common stock dividend and buyback shares. WM provides services that range from collection and disposal to recycling and renewable energy generation.
The company’s Board of Directors has approved a 13% hike in dividend from $0.575 per share to $0.65 per share for 2022. Annually, the dividend will be raised from $2.30 per share to $2.60 per share. Notably, this is the nineteenth consecutive year that the company has increased its dividend.
Waste Management also revealed to have received authorization from its Board of Directors to repurchase up to $1.5 billion of the company’s common stock. (See Waste Management stock chart on TipRanks)
The President and CEO of Waste Management, Jim Fish, said, “The resiliency and exceptional cash generation of our business model has been on full display over the last several years. The pace of free cash flow growth in our business has exceeded expectations and positioned us to return more than $3.5 billion to shareholders since the end of 2019. Our confidence in our business model and outlook positions us to plan the largest dividend increase we have had in nearly two decades.”
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Stock Rating
Last month, Deutsche Bank analyst Kyle White maintained a Buy rating on Waste Management and raised the price target to $164 from $152. The new price target implies upside potential of 0.7% from current levels.
Consensus among analysts is a Moderate Buy based on 3 Buys, 3 Holds and 1 Sell. The average Waste Management price target of $163.43 implies 0.4% upside potential from current levels.
Smart Score
Waste Management scores an 8 out of 10 from TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock is likely to outperform market expectations.
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