Traders Purchase Large Volume of The GEO Group Call Options (NYSE:GEO)

The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 24,372 call options on the company. This is an increase of 69% compared to the average volume of 14,458 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The GEO Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning raised its stake in The GEO Group by 9.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,096 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of The GEO Group by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,155 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of The GEO Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in The GEO Group by 62.1% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 6,245 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 2,393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in The GEO Group by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 40,276 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

The GEO Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GEO opened at $35.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.18, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.87. The GEO Group has a fifty-two week low of $10.47 and a fifty-two week high of $35.62. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.34.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.