Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Shares Climb 3.7% – What’s Next?

Shares of Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) shot up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $30.70 and last traded at $30.8380. 937,356 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 2,139,086 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.74.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GEO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research report on Monday, August 10th. JonesTrading upped their price target on Geo Group from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Geo Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research report 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 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Geo Group Stock Up 4.3%

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.78.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $721.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Geo Group Inc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Geo Group 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 sale, the insider owned 71,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,291,648. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was 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 owned 87,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,755,082.90. This trade represents a 11.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,797 shares of company stock valued at $911,916. Corporate insiders own 4.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Geo Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEO. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Geo Group in the second quarter valued at about $570,744,000. Pentwater Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Geo Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $312,698,000. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC grew its position in shares of Geo Group by 14.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 661,281 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Geo Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $118,673,000. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Geo Group by 7.3% in the first 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 buying an additional 256,265 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Geo Group Company Profile

The GEO Group, Inc (NYSE:GEO) is a provider of correctional, detention, reentry and community-based services. The company designs, develops, finances and manages secure facilities for government agencies, including correctional institutions, immigration detention centers and other custodial facilities.

GEO also provides electronic monitoring and community supervision services, including location monitoring, case management and related technologies. Through its reentry services, the company operates residential centers and programs intended to support individuals transitioning from incarceration to community living, employment and other post-release services.

Founded in 1984 as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, the company adopted the name The GEO Group in 2003.