Vestcor Inc Acquires 80,000 Shares of GFL Environmental Inc. $GFL

Vestcor Inc raised its stake in GFL Environmental Inc. (NYSE:GFL) by 25.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 391,815 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 80,000 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc owned approximately 0.11% of GFL Environmental worth $16,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in GFL Environmental by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,344,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,706,000 after buying an additional 349,720 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised 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 in the last quarter. 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. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 78,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forge First Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 124,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.70% of the company’s stock.

GFL Environmental Stock Performance

GFL opened at $35.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a PE ratio of 110.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.77. GFL Environmental Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.33 and a 12-month high of $51.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

GFL Environmental (NYSE:GFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.06 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.09) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that GFL Environmental Inc. will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

GFL Environmental Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their target price 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. Barclays raised their price target on GFL Environmental from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of GFL Environmental in a research note on Friday, March 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of GFL Environmental from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Zacks Research cut GFL Environmental from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

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.