Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Given Buy Rating at JonesTrading

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at JonesTrading in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $40.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock. JonesTrading’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 34.52% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Geo Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Noble Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research raised Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price target on Geo Group from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Geo Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.00.

Geo Group Stock Down 8.1%

Shares of GEO stock traded down $2.61 on Tuesday, hitting $29.74. The stock had a trading volume of 1,850,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,173,398. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Geo Group has a one year low of $12.51 and a one year high of $33.17. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.37. The company has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Insider Activity at Geo Group

In other news, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total value of $371,015.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 87,602 shares in the company, valued at $2,755,082.90. The trade was a 11.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $224,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 71,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,291,648. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,797 shares of company stock worth $911,916. Insiders own 4.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Geo Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Geo Group during the second quarter worth $644,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Geo Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $322,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in Geo Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $478,000. Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $250,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Geo Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $428,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Geo Group News

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.

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.