CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CSGP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Monday. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.08.

CoStar Group Trading Down 1.2 %

CSGP stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,098,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,092,936. CoStar Group has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38. The company has a current ratio of 9.63, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $75.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.48. The company has a market cap of $28.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 159.91 and a beta of 0.85.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $692.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.91 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 3.53%. CoStar Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that CoStar Group will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

In other CoStar Group news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total value of $439,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,696,784.24. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Andrew C. Florance bought 14,731 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $74.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,099,963.77. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,263,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CoStar Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the third quarter worth $40,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $54,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in CoStar Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $91,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in CoStar Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $104,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in CoStar Group by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,374 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

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.