HighTower Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 10,885 The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO)

HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 10,885 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $141,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of The GEO Group by 10.9% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 67,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 6,600 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in The GEO Group by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,114,771 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,008,000 after purchasing an additional 49,134 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of The GEO Group by 32.2% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 23,201 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 5,645 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in The GEO Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $140,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of The GEO Group by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 656,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,429,000 after purchasing an additional 22,969 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Noble Financial cut shares of The GEO Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating on shares of The GEO Group in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price target on The GEO Group from $16.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

The GEO Group Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of GEO opened at $28.12 on Thursday. The GEO Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.46 and a 52 week high of $29.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.88.

The GEO Group Profile

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.