Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Stock Keeps “Buy” Rating at JonesTrading

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at JonesTrading in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock. JonesTrading’s price target indicates a potential upside of 33.74% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Geo Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Tuesday. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of Geo Group from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Geo Group Stock Performance

GEO stock traded down $2.43 on Tuesday, reaching $29.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,959,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,191,226. Geo Group has a 52 week low of $12.51 and a 52 week high of $33.17. The company has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.65.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.08. Geo Group had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company had revenue of $732.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $721.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Geo Group will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $224,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 71,614 shares in the company, valued at $2,291,648. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of Geo Group stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total transaction of $371,015.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 87,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,755,082.90. This trade represents a 11.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,797 shares of company stock worth $911,916. 4.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $570,744,000. Pentwater Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Geo Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $312,698,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geo Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $118,673,000. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC lifted its position in Geo Group by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 5,314,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $89,328,000 after acquiring an additional 661,281 shares during the period. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in Geo Group by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,743,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $62,923,000 after acquiring an additional 256,265 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Geo Group

Here are the key news stories impacting Geo Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: $950 million Adelanto sale completed: GEO sold three California ICE facilities—Adelanto West, Adelanto East and Desert View Annex—with a combined capacity of 2,644 beds to the U.S. government and its assigns. The transaction provides substantial cash proceeds and reduces GEO’s direct ownership of those facilities. GEO Adelanto sale and repurchase authorization
• Positive Sentiment: Buyback authorization increased to $1.25 billion: GEO plans to use greater financial flexibility from the Adelanto transaction to support share repurchases. Buybacks could reduce the share count and increase per-share value if executed at attractive prices. GEO expands share buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Debt and liquidity actions: GEO announced the redemption of all $650 million of senior secured notes due 2029 and amended and extended its revolving credit facility. The changes may improve balance-sheet flexibility and support the enlarged repurchase program. GEO debt redemption and credit facility update
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst remains bullish: JonesTrading reaffirmed its “Buy” rating and set a $40 price target, implying approximately 32.6% upside from the referenced share price. JonesTrading GEO rating and price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Key investor trade-off: The transaction monetizes valuable real estate and creates capital-return capacity, but selling three facilities also removes associated assets and potential operating revenue. The stock’s pullback from its recent high suggests investors may be reassessing that trade-off.

Geo Group Company Profile

The GEO Group, Inc (NYSE: GEO) is a provider of correctional, detention and community-reentry services. The company designs, finances, develops and manages secure facilities for federal, state and local government agencies, as well as certain international government clients. Its facilities house individuals in pretrial detention, immigration detention and correctional programs.

GEO also provides correctional and behavioral healthcare, transportation and security services, and electronic monitoring technologies.