Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Geo Group (NYSE:GEO)

Geo Group Inc (The) (NYSE:GEO) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 21,714 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 186% compared to the average daily volume of 7,580 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd acquired a new stake in Geo Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $115,664,000. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC lifted its holdings in Geo Group by 32.7% during the third quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 4,974,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $101,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Geo Group by 2.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,922,108 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $117,884,000 after purchasing an additional 98,739 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geo Group in the third quarter valued at about $88,625,000. Finally, Continental General Insurance Co. increased its stake in shares of Geo Group by 9.0% during the third quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. now owns 4,254,474 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $87,174,000 after purchasing an additional 350,000 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geo Group Stock Up 2.0%

GEO opened at $16.53 on Friday. Geo Group has a fifty-two week low of $14.27 and a fifty-two week high of $36.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 0.70.

Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Geo Group had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $565.42 million for the quarter. Geo Group has set its FY22 guidance at $2.40-2.46 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Geo Group will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GEO. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Geo Group in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Geo Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 13th. Finally, Jones Trading decreased their price objective on Geo Group from $50.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Geo Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

Geo Group Company Profile

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) is a leading provider of correctional, detention and community reentry services to government agencies around the world. As a real estate investment trust, the company specializes in the design, financing, development and operation of secure facilities for adult and juvenile offenders, immigration detainees and individuals requiring mental health treatment or substance abuse programming. GEO’s integrated service model also encompasses electronic monitoring, rehabilitative programming and post-release supervision aimed at reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety.

GEO’s portfolio spans a range of facility types, including medium- and maximum-security correctional institutions, residential reentry centers, mental health treatment units and immigration detention centers.