Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $44.30 Million in GFL Environmental Inc. $GFL

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of GFL Environmental Inc. (NYSE:GFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,031,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,299,000.

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

GFL Environmental Trading Down 0.9%

GFL opened at $35.65 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $12.76 billion, a PE ratio of 111.41, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. GFL Environmental Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.46 and a 1-year high of $51.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.39.

GFL Environmental (NYSE:GFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.09) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that GFL Environmental Inc. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GFL Environmental Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 positive change from GFL Environmental’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. GFL Environmental’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on GFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of GFL Environmental from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of GFL Environmental in a report on Friday, March 13th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of GFL Environmental from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of GFL Environmental from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of GFL Environmental from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

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.