Wedbush Reiterates "Outperform" Rating for CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW)

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW - Free Report) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $38.00 price target on the real estate investment trust's stock.

CXW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded CoreCivic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Noble Financial upgraded CoreCivic from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

CoreCivic Stock Performance

CXW traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $20.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,197,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,136,381. CoreCivic has a 52 week low of $11.23 and a 52 week high of $24.99. The company's 50-day moving average is $21.91 and its 200-day moving average is $21.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 33.80 and a beta of 0.79.

CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.10. CoreCivic had a return on equity of 5.97% and a net margin of 3.51%. The business had revenue of $488.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $478.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that CoreCivic will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Damon T. Hininger sold 72,246 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.50, for a total value of $1,625,535.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 879,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,784,790. This trade represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Anthony L. Grande sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.22, for a total value of $222,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 180,559 shares in the company, valued at $4,012,020.98. The trade was a 5.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 184,246 shares of company stock worth $4,061,215 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CoreCivic by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,215,492 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $247,852,000 after purchasing an additional 267,198 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC increased its position in shares of CoreCivic by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 6,127,227 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $133,206,000 after purchasing an additional 553,336 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of CoreCivic by 7.3% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,622,800 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $32,927,000 after purchasing an additional 109,769 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of CoreCivic by 88.4% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,261,944 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $27,435,000 after purchasing an additional 592,070 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of CoreCivic by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,251,464 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $27,207,000 after purchasing an additional 37,639 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.13% of the company's stock.

CoreCivic Company Profile

CoreCivic, Inc owns and operates partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: CoreCivic Safety, CoreCivic Community, and CoreCivic Properties. The company provides a range of solutions to government partners that serve the public good through corrections and detention management, a network of residential reentry centers to help address America's recidivism crisis, and government real estate solutions.