Wedbush Reiterates Outperform Rating for The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO)

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Wedbush in a report released on Tuesday,RTT News reports. They presently have a $46.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 63.03% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Noble Financial raised shares of The GEO Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group set a $32.00 price objective on shares of The GEO Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

The GEO Group Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GEO opened at $28.22 on Tuesday. The GEO Group has a 12 month low of $11.75 and a 12 month high of $36.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.46. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.91.

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.08). The business 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that The GEO Group will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The GEO Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of The GEO Group by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 350,914 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,819,000 after acquiring an additional 110,000 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of The GEO Group in the fourth quarter worth about $219,000. Pacific Point Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The GEO Group in the fourth quarter worth about $560,000. Twinbeech Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of The GEO Group by 398.0% in the fourth quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP now owns 239,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,705,000 after acquiring an additional 191,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of The GEO Group by 188.3% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 420,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,773,000 after acquiring an additional 274,784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

The GEO Group Company 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.