Waste Management faces its Q1 print with short interest up 12% over the past month. Recent analyst support remains strong, with three firms lifting price targets in April.
Short interest stood at 6.02 million shares as of April 23, representing 1.49% of the free float. That marks a 1.35% increase day-over-day and a 1.86% climb over the past week. More notably, short interest has risen 12.2% over the past month. Days to cover sits at 3.38 based on the latest FINRA fortnightly data. Cost to borrow remains minimal at 0.50%, up slightly from 0.49% a week ago. Utilization has ticked up to 2.96%, still well below the 52-week high of 4.71%.
The put/call ratio closed at 0.47 on April 24, essentially flat versus the 20-day mean of 0.474. The z-score of -0.02 suggests neutral sentiment. The current PCR sits near the middle of its 52-week range of 0.43 to 0.86, indicating no unusual directional skew heading into the print.
Consensus rating and vote breakdown are unavailable, but the mean price target of $254.72 implies upside from the current $229.53 close. JP Morgan raised its target to $270 on April 10, maintaining Overweight. Baird lifted its Outperform target to $260 from $248 on April 16. Wells Fargo boosted its Overweight target to $273 from $250 on March 18. Wolfe Research initiated coverage at Peer Perform on March 13 without a target. Benzinga's bull case highlights 's plan to return 90% of its $3.8 billion FY26 free cash flow target to shareholders, a 162% year-over-year jump. The bear case notes expected sub-5% sales growth in H1 2026 and a $14 million EBITDA headwind from falling recycled commodity prices.
The P/E ratio of 27.3 has edged up 0.74 points over the past 30 days. EV/EBITDA sits at 14.0, up 0.34 points in the same window. WM ranks in the 91st percentile on 12-month forward EPS growth and the 98th percentile on dividend score. EPS momentum scores sit at the 44th percentile over both 30 and 90 days. Earnings surprise ranks at the 65th percentile.
Insiders sold a net $22.1 million over the past 90 days, with President/COO John J. Morris offloading $1.02 million on March 9. Vanguard added 553,605 shares in Q1 to hold 9.68% of the company. Columbia Management increased its stake by 1.02 million shares to 1.66%. BlackRock and State Street made smaller additions.
WM last reported on January 29, 2026, with three prior prints in late January and April 2026. The stock has gained 2.04% over the past month and 2.49% over the past week, though it dipped 1.40% on April 24.
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