Alberta Investment Management Corp Invests $33.08 Million in GFL Environmental Inc. $GFL

Key Points

• Alberta Investment Management Corp opened a new position in GFL Environmental during the fourth quarter, buying 770,000 shares worth about $33.1 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other investors holding about 64.7% of GFL’s stock; several large firms also increased their stakes in the company.
• Analysts remain mostly constructive despite some recent downgrades: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating and a consensus price target of $55, while GFL recently beat quarterly EPS estimates and raised its dividend slightly.

Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in GFL Environmental Inc. (NYSE:GFL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 770,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,077,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp owned approximately 0.21% of GFL Environmental as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in GFL Environmental by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,863,632 shares of the company's stock valued at $939,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,267,936 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in GFL Environmental by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,201,976 shares of the company's stock valued at $481,125,000 after purchasing an additional 977,344 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in GFL Environmental by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,156,675 shares of the company's stock valued at $479,255,000 after purchasing an additional 97,020 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in GFL Environmental by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 8,511,198 shares of the company's stock valued at $365,595,000 after purchasing an additional 185,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in GFL Environmental by 40.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,673,954 shares of the company's stock valued at $290,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,932,442 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of GFL Environmental from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of GFL Environmental from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $49.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of GFL Environmental in a research note on Friday, March 13th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of GFL Environmental in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of GFL Environmental from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.00.

GFL Environmental Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of GFL opened at $35.99 on Tuesday. GFL Environmental Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.33 and a twelve month high of $51.51. The company has a market cap of $12.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $37.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.34.

GFL Environmental (NYSE:GFL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.01. GFL Environmental had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 4.53%. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.09) earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that GFL Environmental Inc. will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

GFL Environmental Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 13th were paid a $0.0169 dividend. This is an increase from GFL Environmental's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 13th. GFL Environmental's payout ratio is currently 21.88%.

About GFL Environmental

GFL Environmental Inc is a leading North American provider of diversified environmental services, offering comprehensive solutions across solid waste management, liquid waste management, soil remediation and infrastructure services. The company's core business activities include residential, commercial and industrial waste collection, recycling, composting and landfill management. In addition to traditional waste services, GFL provides specialized liquid waste hauling, treatment and disposal services as well as environmental consulting to support industrial and municipal clients in meeting regulatory and sustainability goals.

Founded in 2007 by entrepreneur Patrick Dovigi, GFL Environmental has pursued an aggressive growth strategy driven by strategic acquisitions and organic expansion.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.