CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) Stock Jumps 4.3% – Time to Buy?

CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) traded up 4.3% on Thursday. The company traded as high as $33.63 and last traded at $33.6530. 127,913 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,286,851 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.28.

CoreCivic News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting CoreCivic this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The board appointed Lucibeth N. Mayberry as president, chief executive officer and a director, providing an immediate leadership successor. The company said Patrick D. Swindle stepped down because of health reasons. CoreCivic leadership announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage discussing CoreCivic’s transition and the NYSE Composite focuses on the potential implications of the leadership change for the company’s market profile and index-related investor attention, rather than announcing a change to operations or financial guidance. CoreCivic transition and NYSE Composite
• Negative Sentiment: Investors viewed the sudden departure of CEO Patrick Swindle as a risk because it creates uncertainty around strategic continuity and execution, even though the company attributed the move to health reasons. Reports in multiple markets linked the leadership transition to the stock’s decline. Why CoreCivic stock is falling

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CXW. Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of CoreCivic in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of CoreCivic from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. JonesTrading reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of CoreCivic in a report on Friday, September 18th. UBS Group set a $35.00 price objective on CoreCivic in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised CoreCivic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.40.

CoreCivic Stock Down 6.5%

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.69 and a beta of 0.60.

CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.04. CoreCivic had a net margin of 5.15% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $684.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $618.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. CoreCivic’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.3% compared to the same quarter last year. CoreCivic has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.610-2.700 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CoreCivic, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

CoreCivic announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, August 10th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 15.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John R. Prann, Jr. sold 40,000 shares of CoreCivic stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction of $1,341,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 30,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,019,481.84. The trade was a 56.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark A. Emkes sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.25, for a total value of $1,027,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 141,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,838,634.50. This represents a 17.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 459,287 shares of company stock worth $15,431,193 over the last 90 days. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CoreCivic

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CXW. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of CoreCivic in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in CoreCivic during the second quarter valued at approximately $120,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in CoreCivic during the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CoreCivic in the second quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in CoreCivic in the second quarter valued at approximately $211,000. 85.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CoreCivic

CoreCivic, Inc (NYSE: CXW) is a diversified government-solutions company that provides detention, corrections and residential reentry services. The company partners with federal, state and local government agencies to design, develop, own, lease and manage correctional and detention facilities in the United States.

Through its CoreCivic Safety operations, the company manages correctional and detention facilities and provides related services, including security, inmate care, transportation and rehabilitation programs.