Share Buyback Program Initiated by Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Board of Directors

Key Points

• Geo Group's board has initiated a $300 million share buyback program, allowing the company to repurchase up to 8.2% of its outstanding shares, suggesting management believes the stock is undervalued.
• The company recently reported earnings of $0.22 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.16, with quarterly revenue of $636.17 million, which is up 4.8% year-over-year.
• Research analysts have mixed views on the stock, with ratings ranging from "hold" to "buy," and an average price target of $38.00 according to MarketBeat data.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO - Get Free Report) declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 6th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Geo Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GEO traded down $2.99 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.85. The company had a trading volume of 10,586,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,753,655. Geo Group has a 12 month low of $11.75 and a 12 month high of $36.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.26, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $25.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.29.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. Geo Group had a return on equity of 7.36% and a net margin of 1.19%. The firm had revenue of $636.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $621.55 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Geo Group will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GEO shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Geo Group in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Jones Trading reduced their price objective on Geo Group from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Geo Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.00.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.