CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

CSGP has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered CoStar Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $96.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CoStar Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.08.

CoStar Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSGP traded down $0.85 on Tuesday, hitting $70.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,098,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,092,936. The company has a market capitalization of $28.84 billion, a PE ratio of 159.91 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 9.63 and a quick ratio of 9.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.48. CoStar Group has a 1 year low of $68.26 and a 1 year high of $100.38.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. CoStar Group had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 3.53%. The business had revenue of $692.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. CoStar Group’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that CoStar Group will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

In related news, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $5,350,268.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,913,501 shares in the company, valued at $142,919,389.69. This represents a 3.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Andrew C. Florance purchased 14,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.67 per share, with a total value of $1,099,963.77. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,263,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,315,527.66. This trade represents a 1.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in CoStar Group in the third quarter worth $40,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,358,331 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $177,913,000 after buying an additional 1,001,177 shares in the last quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of CoStar Group by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC now owns 500,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,720,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 469.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 248,043 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,712,000 after acquiring an additional 204,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in CoStar Group by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 103,547 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,812,000 after acquiring an additional 14,468 shares during the period. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About CoStar Group

CoStar Group, Inc provides information, analytics, and online marketplace services to the commercial real estate, hospitality, residential, and related professionals industries in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company offers CoStar Property that provides inventory of office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality, and student housing properties and land; CoStar Sales, a robust database of comparable commercial real estate sales transactions; CoStar Market Analytics to view and report on aggregated market and submarket trends; and CoStar Tenant, an online business-to-business prospecting and analytical tool that provides tenant information.