Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) Stock Has Average Price Target of $40.00

Shares of Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.00.

Several research firms recently issued reports on GEO. Northland Securities raised their price target on Geo Group from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Friday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Geo Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Noble Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research report on Monday, August 10th.

Geo Group Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE:GEO opened at $30.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.77. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $31.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.14. Geo Group has a 52-week low of $12.51 and a 52-week high of $33.15.

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

Insider Activity at Geo Group

In other Geo Group news, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total value of $371,015.65. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 87,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,755,082.90. This trade represents a 11.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of Geo Group stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,291,648. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 28,797 shares of company stock worth $911,916 over the last 90 days. 4.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GEO. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Geo Group by 111.9% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in Geo Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in Geo Group during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in Geo Group by 22.7% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,866 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Geo Group by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $202,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.