Geo Group’s (GEO) Buy Rating Reiterated at JonesTrading

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at JonesTrading in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $40.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. JonesTrading’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 33.74% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Geo Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Geo Group Stock Down 7.5%

GEO traded down $2.43 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.91. 5,892,774 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,191,264. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $31.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.37. Geo Group has a fifty-two week low of $12.51 and a fifty-two week high of $33.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.77.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $732.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $721.43 million. Geo Group had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 10.42%. Geo Group’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Geo Group will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Geo Group

In other news, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of Geo Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,291,648. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of Geo Group stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 87,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,755,082.90. This represents a 11.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 28,797 shares of company stock valued at $911,916 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geo Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GEO. Pentwater Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $312,698,000. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 661,281 shares during the period. Militia Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,634,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $118,673,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,165,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Geo Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: GEO completed the $950 million sale of its three-facility Adelanto, California ICE processing center complex, comprising 2,644 beds, to the U.S. government. The transaction provides substantial liquidity and monetizes the properties at an attractive value. GEO Adelanto sale announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Following the sale, GEO increased its share-repurchase authorization to $1.25 billion. If executed, the buyback could reduce shares outstanding and support per-share earnings, although the timing and pace of repurchases remain uncertain. GEO expands share buyback
• Positive Sentiment: GEO announced the redemption of all $650 million of senior secured notes due 2029 and amended and extended its revolving credit facility. The actions could improve debt-maturity flexibility and strengthen the company’s capital structure, though they also use part of the sale proceeds. GEO debt redemption and credit facility update
• Positive Sentiment: JonesTrading reaffirmed its “buy” rating and assigned a $40 price target, implying substantial upside from the reference price. The endorsement reinforces the bullish view after GEO’s asset sale and capital-allocation announcements.
• Neutral Sentiment: The Adelanto sale reduces GEO’s owned facility portfolio and related operating capacity, which may lower future facility revenue, but the immediate cash proceeds and planned buybacks could offset that concern for shareholders. 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.