CoreCivic, Inc. $CXW Stock: VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Decreases Stake

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al reduced its stake in shares of CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) by 89.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 58,150 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in CoreCivic were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CXW. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in CoreCivic in the 2nd quarter worth about $480,557,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in CoreCivic in the 3rd quarter worth about $93,789,000. Park West Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CoreCivic during the second quarter worth approximately $27,310,000. JB Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of CoreCivic during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,677,480. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of CoreCivic during the second quarter valued at approximately $18,805,000. 85.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CoreCivic Stock Performance

Shares of CoreCivic stock opened at $28.59 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.98. CoreCivic, Inc. has a one year low of $15.73 and a one year high of $36.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41.

CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $15.14 by ($14.65). CoreCivic had a net margin of 54.60% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The firm had revenue of $744.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $697.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that CoreCivic, Inc. will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CoreCivic announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, August 10th that allows the company to repurchase $500 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 15.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CXW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark increased their price objective on CoreCivic from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JonesTrading restated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of CoreCivic in a report on Friday, September 18th. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CoreCivic in a report on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of CoreCivic in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered CoreCivic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.40.

Insider Activity at CoreCivic

In other CoreCivic news, CFO David Garfinkle sold 50,000 shares of CoreCivic stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.96, for a total value of $1,698,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 293,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,962,267.88. The trade was a 14.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daren Swenson sold 20,000 shares of CoreCivic stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.85, for a total transaction of $697,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 142,666 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,910.10. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 459,287 shares of company stock valued at $15,431,193 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

About CoreCivic

CoreCivic, Inc is a U.S. corrections and government-services company that operates correctional and detention facilities under contracts with federal, state and local government agencies. Its services include facility management and related support for people in custody.

The company also provides residential reentry services, including transitional housing and programs intended to help people return to their communities. Through its real estate business, CoreCivic owns and develops correctional and detention properties that government agencies may lease.

Founded in 1983 as Corrections Corporation of America, the company adopted the CoreCivic name in 2016.