Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.00.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on Geo Group from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Geo Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Geo Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. JonesTrading upped their price objective on Geo Group from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GEO. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Geo Group during the second quarter worth approximately $570,744,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Geo Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,894,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $240,106,000 after acquiring an additional 98,742 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC grew its position in Geo Group by 14.2% during the first quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 5,314,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $89,328,000 after buying an additional 661,281 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Geo Group by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,961,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,983,000 after purchasing an additional 126,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continental General Insurance Co. increased its position in shares of Geo Group by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. now owns 4,684,474 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $75,514,000 after buying an additional 430,000 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geo Group Stock Performance

NYSE GEO traded up $0.35 on Monday, hitting $31.05. 843,604 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,109,756. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Geo Group has a 1-year low of $12.51 and a 1-year high of $32.25.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $732.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $721.43 million. Geo Group had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Geo Group will post 1.3 EPS for the current year.

Geo Group Company Profile

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.