FORA Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in Geo Group Inc (The) $GEO

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in Geo Group Inc, purchasing 25,103 shares valued at approximately $733,000 in the first quarter, joining other institutional investors who have increased their stakes in the company.
• Geo Group received a rating upgrade from "sell" to "hold" by Wall Street Zen, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $37.00.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings of $0.22 EPS, exceeding the consensus estimate, and plans to initiate a stock repurchase program worth $300 million as a signal of confidence in its stock value.

FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 25,103 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $733,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Geo Group by 87.4% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 100,370 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,809,000 after purchasing an additional 46,820 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Geo Group in the first quarter worth about $965,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Geo Group by 3,023.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 254,740 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $7,441,000 after purchasing an additional 246,585 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Geo Group in the first quarter worth about $296,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 274,784 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $36.00 price target on shares of Geo Group in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Jones Trading dropped their price objective on shares of Geo Group from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Geo Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Geo Group Price Performance

Shares of GEO traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $20.76. 2,518,161 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,772,985. Geo Group Inc has a one year low of $11.75 and a one year high of $36.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.61 and a 200 day moving average of $26.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.75.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. Geo Group had a net margin of 3.69% and a return on equity of 7.26%. The business had revenue of $636.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $621.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. Geo Group's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Geo Group Inc will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Geo Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Geo Group

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.