Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Earns Buy Rating from JonesTrading

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at JonesTrading in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock. JonesTrading’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 32.52% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on GEO. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Geo Group from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Geo Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Geo Group Stock Performance

NYSE GEO traded down $2.16 on Tuesday, reaching $30.19. 1,313,133 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,170,517. Geo Group has a fifty-two week low of $12.51 and a fifty-two week high of $33.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $31.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.37.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 71,614 shares in the company, valued at $2,291,648. This represents 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 through the SEC website. Also, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 11.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,797 shares of company stock valued at $911,916. Insiders own 4.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Geo Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $644,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Geo Group in the 2nd quarter worth $322,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the second quarter worth $478,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new stake in Geo Group in the second quarter valued at about $250,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in Geo Group in the second quarter valued at about $428,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Geo Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: $950 million Adelanto facility sale: GEO completed the sale of three California ICE processing facilities totaling 2,644 beds to the U.S. government. The transaction monetizes the properties at a substantial value and provides cash that can be directed toward debt reduction and shareholder returns. GEO Adelanto facility sale announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded share repurchase authorization: GEO increased its share buyback authorization to $1.25 billion. Repurchases could reduce the share count and support earnings per share, although the timing and amount of actual purchases remain uncertain. GEO expands share buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Debt refinancing and repayment: GEO delivered notice to redeem all of its senior secured notes due 2029, reportedly totaling approximately $650 million, and amended and extended its revolving credit facility. Retiring the notes could reduce interest expense and refinancing risk, while the revised credit facility preserves liquidity for operations and capital allocation. GEO debt redemption and credit facility announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Portfolio implications: Selling Adelanto provides significant liquidity but also removes three operating facilities from GEO’s portfolio, potentially reducing future facility-related revenue and cash flow. The stock’s movement toward its 52-week high indicates investors are currently placing greater weight on the sale proceeds, buyback potential and balance-sheet improvement. GEO sells three facilities to ICE

About Geo Group

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.