Geo Group Inc (The) $GEO Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management increased its GEO holdings by 141.8% in the third quarter, acquiring 2.28 million additional shares and bringing its stake to 3.895 million shares, or 2.96% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 76.1% of GEO.
• GEO reported quarterly EPS of $0.37, exceeding the $0.29 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 15.1% year over year to $732.1 million. Shares opened at $28.64, down 2.3%, and remain below the average analyst price target of $40.
• Insiders sold 28,797 shares worth approximately $911,916 during the last quarter. Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with a consensus “Buy” rating despite one recent downgrade to “Hold.”

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO - Free Report) by 141.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,895,780 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 2,284,770 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 2.96% of Geo Group worth $118,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEO. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Geo Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $570,744,000. Pentwater Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 2nd quarter worth $312,698,000. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Geo Group by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 5,314,006 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $89,328,000 after acquiring an additional 661,281 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the second quarter worth $118,673,000. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Geo Group by 7.3% during the first quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,743,180 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $62,923,000 after purchasing an additional 256,265 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Geo Group

In other Geo Group news, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of Geo Group stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $224,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 71,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,291,648. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total value of $371,015.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 87,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,755,082.90. This represents a 11.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,797 shares of company stock valued at $911,916. Corporate insiders own 4.98% of the company's stock.

Geo Group Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of GEO stock opened at $28.64 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.22 and a 200-day moving average of $27.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.77. Geo Group Inc has a 52-week low of $12.51 and a 52-week high of $33.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.08. Geo Group had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm had revenue of $732.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $721.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Geo Group Inc will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JonesTrading reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Geo Group in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Friday, September 4th. Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of Geo Group from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Noble Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Geo Group in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Geo Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $40.00.

About Geo Group

The GEO Group, Inc NYSE: GEO is a provider of correctional, detention and community-reentry services. The company designs, finances, develops and manages secure facilities for federal, state and local government agencies, as well as certain international government clients. Its facilities house individuals in pretrial detention, immigration detention and correctional programs.

GEO also provides correctional and behavioral healthcare, transportation and security services, and electronic monitoring technologies.

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