Jones Trading Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Stock Price

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Jones Trading from $50.00 to $37.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Jones Trading’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 144.61% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on GEO. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Friday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Geo Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.40.

Geo Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GEO traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $15.13. The stock had a trading volume of 2,755,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,902,185. Geo Group has a 1 year low of $14.27 and a 1 year high of $36.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $19.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

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

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Geo Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Geo Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,922,108 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $117,884,000 after acquiring an additional 98,739 shares during the last quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. raised 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 valued at $93,512,000 after purchasing an additional 3,521,589 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Geo Group by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,259,307 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $78,076,000 after purchasing an additional 108,106 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Geo Group by 312.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,608,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,976,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Geo Group by 2.1% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,554,420 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,405,000 after buying an additional 32,060 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

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.