Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Stock Price Down 7% – Time to Sell?

Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) shares fell 7% during trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $30.45 and last traded at $30.08. 1,191,534 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 2,169,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GEO shares. Northland Securities raised their price target on Geo Group from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.00.

Geo Group Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.56. The company has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $732.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $721.43 million. Geo Group had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Geo Group Inc will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Matthew Albence sold 11,797 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total transaction of $371,015.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 87,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,755,082.90. The trade was a 11.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ronald A. Brack sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $224,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 71,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,291,648. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 28,797 shares of company stock valued at $911,916 in the last three months. 4.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geo Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Geo Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $644,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Geo Group during the 2nd quarter worth $322,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in Geo Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $478,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new position in Geo Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $250,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Geo Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $428,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geo Group Company Profile

The GEO Group, Inc (NYSE: GEO) is a provider of correctional, detention and community-reentry services. The company designs, finances, develops and manages secure facilities for federal, state and local government agencies, as well as certain international government clients. Its facilities house individuals in pretrial detention, immigration detention and correctional programs.

GEO also provides correctional and behavioral healthcare, transportation and security services, and electronic monitoring technologies.