CoStar Group’s (CSGP) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at William Blair

William Blair reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,RTT News reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CSGP. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CoStar Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.15.

CoStar Group Stock Up 5.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSGP opened at $79.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 180.03 and a beta of 0.87. CoStar Group has a 52-week low of $68.26 and a 52-week high of $100.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a current ratio of 9.63.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The business had revenue of $709.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 3.53%. Sell-side analysts expect that CoStar Group will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

CoStar Group announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 18th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at CoStar Group

In related news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 58,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,696,784.24. This trade represents a 8.55 % 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 this link. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CoStar Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in CoStar Group during the third quarter worth about $40,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 73.8% in 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 during the period. Telemark Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 42.9% during 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 last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 14,468 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $621,000. 96.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.