Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 131,332 Shares of GFL Environmental Inc. $GFL

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in GFL Environmental by 12% in Q4, buying 131,332 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 1,225,212 shares worth about $52.7 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted their positions, and institutions now own 64.7% of GFL’s stock, indicating continued interest from large investors.
• Analysts remain mixed but generally constructive: the stock carries a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $55, even as some firms recently cut ratings and targets. GFL also beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.06 EPS on revenue of $1.18 billion.

Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in GFL Environmental Inc. (NYSE:GFL - Free Report) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,225,212 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 131,332 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.34% of GFL Environmental worth $52,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in GFL Environmental by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,344,569 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,706,000 after buying an additional 349,720 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in GFL Environmental by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 357,808 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,950,000 after buying an additional 52,121 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in GFL Environmental by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,673,954 shares of the company's stock valued at $290,083,000 after buying an additional 1,932,442 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in GFL Environmental by 214.7% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 114,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,444,000 after buying an additional 78,349 shares during the period. Finally, Forge First Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in GFL Environmental by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc. now owns 416,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,713,000 after buying an additional 124,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GFL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered 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 report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of GFL Environmental from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of GFL Environmental from a "hold (c)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of GFL Environmental from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of GFL Environmental from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GFL Environmental has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.00.

GFL Environmental Stock Down 2.0%

GFL opened at $33.58 on Friday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $39.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.51. GFL Environmental Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.52 and a twelve month high of $51.51. The firm has a market cap of $12.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.95, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.78.

GFL Environmental (NYSE:GFL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.09) EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that GFL Environmental Inc. will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GFL Environmental Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, April 13th were given a dividend of $0.0169 per share. This is a positive change from GFL Environmental's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 13th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. GFL Environmental's dividend payout ratio is currently 18.75%.

GFL Environmental Company Profile

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.

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