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

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

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

Geo Group Stock Down 7.5%

Geo Group stock traded down $2.43 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.91. 4,959,190 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,191,226. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.37. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 14.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.77. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $12.51 and a fifty-two week high of $33.17.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $732.07 million for 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%.Geo Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Geo Group will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 71,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,291,648. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of the firm’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 approximately $2,755,082.90. This trade represents a 11.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 28,797 shares of company stock valued at $911,916 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the second quarter valued at about $570,744,000. Pentwater Capital Management LP bought a new position in Geo Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $312,698,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $118,673,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,605,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $23,825,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key 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.