Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys Shares of 16,900 GFL Environmental Inc. $GFL

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of GFL Environmental Inc. (NYSE:GFL) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 16,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of GFL Environmental in the 4th quarter valued at about $149,466,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its stake in GFL Environmental by 216.5% during the 4th quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 5,023,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,761,000 after acquiring an additional 3,436,419 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in GFL Environmental by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,863,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $939,043,000 after acquiring an additional 3,267,936 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in GFL Environmental by 203.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,946,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305,953 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in GFL Environmental by 11,121.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,181,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,524 shares during the period. 64.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on GFL. Weiss Ratings raised shares of GFL Environmental from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of GFL Environmental in a report on Friday. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of GFL Environmental in a report on Friday. 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, Citigroup set a $51.00 price objective on GFL Environmental and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.75.

GFL Environmental Price Performance

Shares of GFL opened at $41.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.08. GFL Environmental Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.33 and a 52-week high of $51.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of -77.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.70.

GFL Environmental (NYSE:GFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.03). GFL Environmental had a positive return on equity of 4.14% and a negative net margin of 3.28%.The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that GFL Environmental Inc. will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GFL Environmental Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 13th were given a dividend of $0.0169 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 13th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. GFL Environmental’s dividend payout ratio is currently -13.21%.

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.