StockNews.com Begins Coverage on The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO)

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO – Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Separately, Wedbush upgraded The GEO Group from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 29th.

The GEO Group Stock Performance

Shares of The GEO Group stock opened at $7.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $939.51 million, a PE ratio of 6.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The GEO Group has a 12 month low of $5.66 and a 12 month high of $12.44.

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $620.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $604.40 million. The GEO Group had a return on equity of 15.74% and a net margin of 7.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The GEO Group will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of The GEO Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of The GEO Group by 5,599.8% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 128,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $988,000 after acquiring an additional 126,164 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV bought a new position in The GEO Group during the third quarter valued at about $83,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in The GEO Group by 119.5% during the third quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 392,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after buying an additional 213,549 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in The GEO Group during the third quarter valued at about $1,103,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in The GEO Group by 33.0% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 451,390 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,476,000 after buying an additional 111,890 shares in the last quarter. 76.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

The GEO Group Company Profile

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The GEO Group, Inc engages in the design, financing, development, and support services for secure facilities, processing centers, and community re-entry facilities. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Secure, Electronic Monitoring and Supervision, Reentry, and International Services. The U.S.