Legal & General Group Plc Acquires New Position in Geo Group Inc (The) $GEO

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 310,152 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $9,165,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Geo Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 75,766 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 3,309 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Geo Group by 81.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the first quarter valued at $260,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Geo Group by 168.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 284,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,324,000 after buying an additional 178,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Geo Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,308,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,346,000 after buying an additional 52,623 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GEO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Geo Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. JonesTrading increased their price objective on Geo Group from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Geo Group Trading Down 4.4%

NYSE GEO opened at $30.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.73 and a 200 day moving average of $23.55. Geo Group Inc has a 1 year low of $12.51 and a 1 year high of $33.15. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $732.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $721.43 million. Geo Group had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Geo Group Inc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $224,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 71,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,291,648. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Matthew Albence sold 10,000 shares of Geo Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.69, for a total transaction of $316,900.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 99,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,149,954.31. This trade represents a 9.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 4.98% of the company’s stock.

About Geo Group

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) is a leading provider of correctional, detention and community reentry services to government agencies around the world. As a real estate investment trust, the company specializes in the design, financing, development and operation of secure facilities for adult and juvenile offenders, immigration detainees and individuals requiring mental health treatment or substance abuse programming. GEO’s integrated service model also encompasses electronic monitoring, rehabilitative programming and post-release supervision aimed at reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety.

GEO’s portfolio spans a range of facility types, including medium- and maximum-security correctional institutions, residential reentry centers, mental health treatment units and immigration detention centers.