Geo Group Inc (The) $GEO Shares Acquired by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Geo Group Inc by 5.8% in Q1, now owning approximately 1,256,194 shares worth about $36.7 million.
• Geo Group announced a $300 million stock buyback program indicating the board believes shares are undervalued.
• Earnings results showed Geo Group reported $0.22 EPS, exceeding estimates and marking a 4.8% year-over-year revenue increase.

Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO - Free Report) by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,256,194 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 68,763 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.89% of Geo Group worth $36,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Geo Group by 202.6% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,422,676 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Geo Group by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,522,360 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $42,596,000 after purchasing an additional 170,248 shares during the last quarter. Newbrook Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 4th quarter worth $35,738,000. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Geo Group during the 4th quarter worth $34,456,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Geo Group by 49.6% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,080,865 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $30,243,000 after purchasing an additional 358,574 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GEO shares. Wedbush restated 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 decreased their price objective on Geo Group from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Geo Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $37.00.

Geo Group Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE:GEO traded up $0.1990 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $21.3590. 2,974,451 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,843,185. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.95 and a 200 day moving average of $26.33. Geo Group Inc has a twelve month low of $11.75 and a twelve month high of $36.46. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 return on equity of 7.26% and a net margin of 3.69%.The company had revenue of $636.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $621.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Geo Group Inc will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Geo Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Geo Group Profile

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.