The GEO Group’s (GEO) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Jones Trading

Jones Trading restated their buy rating on shares of The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Jones Trading currently has a $55.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of The GEO Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Noble Financial raised shares of The GEO Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group set a $32.00 price target on shares of The GEO Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of The GEO Group in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.40.

The GEO Group Price Performance

GEO opened at $28.24 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.60. 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 GEO Group has a 1 year low of $11.75 and a 1 year high of $36.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 97.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.91.

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) last released 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 GEO Group had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 2.00%. The company had revenue of $607.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $607.45 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The GEO Group will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of The GEO Group during the third quarter worth $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of The GEO Group during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of The GEO Group by 160.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,170 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The GEO Group by 149.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of The GEO Group during the third quarter worth $67,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.