Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) shares hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $32.71 and last traded at $32.70, with a volume of 1143202 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $31.72.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GEO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. UBS Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Monday, August 10th. Northland Securities increased their target price on Geo Group from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Geo Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, JonesTrading boosted their price target on Geo Group from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Geo Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $30.32 and its 200 day moving average is $22.70.

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. Geo Group had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $732.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $721.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. Geo Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Geo Group Inc will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEO. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Geo Group in the second quarter valued at about $570,744,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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. Pentwater Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the second quarter worth about $312,698,000. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 661,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Geo Group by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,961,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,983,000 after acquiring an additional 126,609 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Geo Group

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.