CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

CXW has been the subject of several other reports. Noble Financial raised CoreCivic from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of CoreCivic in a report on Tuesday, February 11th.

CoreCivic Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of CXW opened at $21.87 on Monday. CoreCivic has a 52 week low of $10.74 and a 52 week high of $24.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.80 and a 200-day moving average of $21.04.

CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $488.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $478.49 million. CoreCivic had a net margin of 3.51% and a return on equity of 5.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CoreCivic will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoreCivic

In other news, Director Stacia Hylton sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.69, for a total value of $86,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 82,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,799,597.61. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Damon T. Hininger sold 72,246 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.50, for a total transaction of $1,625,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 879,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,784,790. The trade was a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 184,246 shares of company stock worth $4,061,215 in the last quarter. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CoreCivic

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in CoreCivic in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in CoreCivic by 318.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,859 shares during the period. Copia Wealth Management bought a new position in CoreCivic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in CoreCivic by 86,300.0% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,320 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 4,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in CoreCivic by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,156 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. 85.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CoreCivic Company Profile

CoreCivic, Inc owns and operates partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: CoreCivic Safety, CoreCivic Community, and CoreCivic Properties. The company provides a range of solutions to government partners that serve the public good through corrections and detention management, a network of residential reentry centers to help address America’s recidivism crisis, and government real estate solutions.