Hodges Capital Management Inc. Purchases 108,114 Shares of Geo Group Inc (The) $GEO

Key Points

• Hodges Capital Management increased its stake in Geo Group Inc by 61.6% in Q1, owning 283,614 shares worth approximately $8.28 million.
• Geo Group's board has authorized a $300 million share buyback program, indicating they believe their shares are undervalued.
• The company reported earnings of $0.22 per share, exceeding expectations by $0.06, with a 4.8% year-over-year revenue increase to $636.17 million.

Hodges Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO - Free Report) by 61.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 283,614 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 108,114 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. owned 0.20% of Geo Group worth $8,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GEO. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Geo Group by 506.1% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 85,663 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,397,000 after buying an additional 71,529 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,809,000 after buying an additional 46,820 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Geo Group by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 72,457 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 4,419 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Geo Group by 47.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 38,533 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 12,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Geo Group by 202.6% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,124,783 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $59,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,422,676 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geo Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GEO traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $22.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,061,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,617,252. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.72. Geo Group Inc has a one year low of $12.29 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 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 (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 company had revenue of $636.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $621.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Geo Group Inc will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Geo Group announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the real estate investment trust to buy up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GEO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jones Trading cut their price target on shares of Geo Group from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Geo Group in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Geo Group has an average 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.