Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

GEO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Geo Group in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Jones Trading lowered their target price on Geo Group from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Geo Group Stock Performance

GEO opened at $17.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.85. The stock has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Geo Group has a 1-year low of $13.59 and a 1-year high of $36.46.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $565.42 million for the quarter. Geo Group had a return on equity of 7.26% and a net margin of 3.69%. Geo Group has set its FY22 guidance at $2.40-2.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Geo Group will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Geo Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the real estate investment trust to purchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Geo Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEO. Continental General Insurance Co. boosted its stake in Geo Group by 919.8% in the 2nd quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. now owns 3,904,474 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,512,000 after buying an additional 3,521,589 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Geo Group by 312.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,608,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,198,000 after acquiring an additional 1,976,544 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in Geo Group in the third quarter valued at $17,268,000. Apis Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Geo Group by 194.3% in the first quarter. Apis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,211,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,373,000 after acquiring an additional 799,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Geo Group by 3,774.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 781,573 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,719,000 after acquiring an additional 761,403 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Geo Group

The GEO Group, Inc (NYSE: GEO) engages in ownership, leasing, and management of secure facilities, processing centers, and community-based reentry facilities in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. The company also provides secure facility management services, including the provision of security, administrative, rehabilitation, education, and food services; reentry services, such as temporary housing, programming, employment assistance, and other services; electronic monitoring and supervision services; and transportation services; as well as designs, constructs, and finances new facilities through projects.