Jones Trading Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO)

Jones Trading reiterated their buy rating on shares of The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Jones Trading currently has a $55.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

GEO has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group set a $32.00 price objective on The GEO Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Noble Financial raised The GEO Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut The GEO Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of The GEO Group in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.40.

The GEO Group Stock Down 2.9 %

GEO stock opened at $28.24 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.75. The company has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.91. The GEO Group has a twelve month low of $11.75 and a twelve month high of $36.46.

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $607.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $607.45 million. The GEO Group had a net margin of 2.00% and a return on equity of 9.20%. Analysts anticipate that The GEO Group will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of The GEO Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in The GEO Group by 160.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,170 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in The GEO Group by 149.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new position in The GEO Group during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management increased its stake in The GEO Group by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 13,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in The GEO Group by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,155 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About The 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.