The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

GEO has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group set a $32.00 target price on shares of The GEO Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of The GEO Group in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Noble Financial raised shares of The GEO Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.40.

The GEO Group Price Performance

The GEO Group stock opened at $28.24 on Thursday. 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 market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.91. The GEO Group has a 1 year low of $11.75 and a 1 year high of $36.46. 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 (NYSE:GEO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $607.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, equities research analysts expect that The GEO Group will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The GEO Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GEO. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of The GEO Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The GEO Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of The GEO Group by 160.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,170 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of The GEO Group by 149.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of The GEO Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $67,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.