The GEO Group Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GEO)

The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 11,828 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 52% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,786 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The GEO Group news, CFO Shayn P. March sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $37,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 67,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,017,450. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The GEO Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GEO. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in The GEO Group in the third quarter worth about $450,000. Denali Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The GEO Group by 16.2% during the third quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 183,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 25,600 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The GEO Group by 6.1% during the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 43,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,498 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of The GEO Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP increased its position in shares of The GEO Group by 21.0% during the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 24,783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 4,300 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

The GEO Group Stock Performance

GEO stock traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $14.72. 1,011,813 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,676,980. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $13.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.36. 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 GEO Group has a 52 week low of $6.94 and a 52 week high of $16.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.62.

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $608.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $597.47 million. The GEO Group had a net margin of 4.72% and a return on equity of 9.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The GEO Group will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wedbush raised their target price on The GEO Group from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th.

About The 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.