Korea Investment CORP Increases Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Korea Investment CORP lifted its position in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 26.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 279,810 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,106 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $20,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in CoStar Group by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,950 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its stake in CoStar Group by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 7,786 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,207 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC boosted its stake in CoStar Group by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 6,431 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in CoStar Group by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Price Performance

CoStar Group stock opened at $79.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.53 billion, a PE ratio of 226.60 and a beta of 0.93. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.26 and a 12-month high of $96.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.81. The company has a current ratio of 8.96, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The business had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

CoStar Group declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 18th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CSGP shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $99.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on CoStar Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com lowered CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $139,745.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,353,534.40. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Company Profile

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.