Wedbush Increases The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) Price Target to $22.00

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Wedbush from $15.00 to $22.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the real estate investment trust's stock. Wedbush's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 38.02% from the company's previous close.

The GEO Group Trading Up 5.3 %

Shares of GEO stock traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $15.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,134,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,750,920. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $12.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.73. The GEO Group has a 52 week low of $6.94 and a 52 week high of $15.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.62.

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.11. The GEO Group had a return on equity of 9.43% and a net margin of 4.72%. The firm had revenue of $608.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $597.47 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The GEO Group will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in The GEO Group by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 49,560 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 1,650 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in The GEO Group by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 119,546 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 7,295 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in The GEO Group by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 43,546 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 2,759 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in The GEO Group by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 119,531 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 23,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in The GEO Group by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 105,637 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 13,025 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

The GEO Group Company 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.