Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO)

The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 29,880 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 86% compared to the typical daily volume of 16,075 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of The GEO Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The GEO Group in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of The GEO Group by 160.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,170 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in The GEO Group by 149.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in The GEO Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $67,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

The GEO Group Trading Down 2.9 %

NYSE:GEO traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.24. 4,301,366 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,701,233. The company’s 50 day moving average is $28.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.91. The GEO Group has a twelve month low of $11.75 and a twelve month high of $36.46.

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $607.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $607.45 million. The GEO Group had a net margin of 2.00% and a return on equity of 9.20%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The GEO Group will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GEO shares. Noble Financial upgraded The GEO Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group set a $32.00 target price on The GEO Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of The GEO Group in a report on Tuesday. Jones Trading reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of The GEO Group in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of The GEO Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.40.

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.