Apis Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 799,500 Shares of Geo Group Inc (The) $GEO

Key Points

• Apis Capital Advisors LLC significantly increased its stake in Geo Group Inc by 194.3%, making it the largest position in their portfolio, representing approximately 17.1% of the fund's total holdings.
• Geo Group Inc reported earnings per share of $0.22, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.16, alongside quarterly revenues of $636.17 million, which were also above estimates.
• The company's board authorized a buyback plan allowing repurchase of up to $300 million in outstanding shares, indicating a belief that the stock is undervalued.

Apis Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO - Free Report) by 194.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,211,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 799,500 shares during the quarter. Geo Group comprises about 17.1% of Apis Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Apis Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.86% of Geo Group worth $35,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Geo Group by 87.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 46,820 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Geo Group during the first quarter worth about $965,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Geo Group by 3,023.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 254,740 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $7,441,000 after buying an additional 246,585 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Geo Group during the first quarter worth about $296,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Geo Group by 188.3% during 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 buying an additional 274,784 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Geo Group Price Performance

Shares of GEO traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $21.17. The company had a trading volume of 2,455,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,078,986. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $23.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.97. Geo Group Inc 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 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Geo Group announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 6th that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to purchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Jones Trading reduced their price objective on shares of Geo Group from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Geo Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Geo Group has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $37.00.

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.