Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 3,479,778 GFL Environmental Inc. $GFL

Key Points

• Norges Bank bought 3,479,778 shares of GFL Environmental in the fourth quarter, valued at about $149.5 million, giving it a 0.97% stake in the company.
• GFL recently posted better-than-expected quarterly results, reporting EPS of $0.06 versus estimates of $0.05 and revenue of $1.18 billion, up 5.4% year over year.
• Wall Street remains cautiously positive overall: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus with a $55 average price target, though several analysts recently trimmed ratings or targets.

Norges Bank acquired a new position in GFL Environmental Inc. (NYSE:GFL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,479,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $149,466,000. Norges Bank owned 0.97% of GFL Environmental at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of GFL Environmental by 43.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 727 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its holdings in GFL Environmental by 4.1% during the third quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 6,537 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in GFL Environmental by 21.9% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,606 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in GFL Environmental by 45.2% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 976 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its holdings in GFL Environmental by 6.8% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 5,187 shares of the company's stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GFL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of GFL Environmental in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of GFL Environmental from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $49.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of GFL Environmental from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Zacks Research cut shares of GFL Environmental from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of GFL Environmental from a "hold (c)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.00.

GFL Environmental Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of GFL Environmental stock opened at $34.68 on Thursday. GFL Environmental Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.33 and a 52-week high of $51.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.76 and a 200 day moving average of $41.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $12.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.71.

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

GFL Environmental Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 13th were given a dividend of $0.0169 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 13th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from GFL Environmental's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. GFL Environmental's payout ratio is presently 21.88%.

GFL Environmental 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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