Five Environmental Stocks to Buy Now

#2 Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG)

– Investors with Long Positions (as of December 31): 21

– Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of December 31): $430 million

The number of investors tracked by us with long positions in Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) declined by 30% during the October-December period. However, the aggregate value of investors’ holdings in the company saw an increase of $56.4 million at the same time. Though Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG)’s stock has appreciated by 7.75% this year, the $0.30 per share quarterly dividend the company pays currently still translates into a respectable annual dividend yield of 2.50%. For its fourth quarter, the company managed to beat analysts’ EPS expectations by $0.01, reporting EPS of $0.50, but its revenue at $2.29 billion came a tad below the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Billionaire Mario Gabelli‘s GAMCO Investors was the largest shareholder of Republic Services, Inc. among funds tracked by us at the end of December; it held over 3 million shares of the company.

#1 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

 – Investors with Long Positions (as of December 31): 52

 – Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of December 31): $3.25 billion

Despite the ownership of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) among investors from our database inching down by two during the fourth quarter, the company held on to its spot as the most popular environmental stock at the end of 2015. Like the stock of most environmental companies this year Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)’s stock is also trading in the green for the year, currently up nearly 9% year-to-date. The company recently hiked its dividend to $0.41 per share from $0.39, which at its current stock price represents an annual dividend yield of 2.79%. Waste Management is expected to report its fiscal 2016 first quarter results at the end of next month and the consensus among analysts includes EPS of $0.56 on revenue of $3.09 billion. For the same quarter of the previous year, the company reported EPS of $0.49 on revenue of $3.00 billion. Waste Management’s stock currently sports an average rating of ‘Overweight’ and an average price target of $58.22. Billionaire Israel Englander‘s Millennium Management increased its stake in the company by 55% to 766,309 shares during the fourth quarter.

Disclosure: None