Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Increases Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 31.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,763 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,328 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in CoStar Group by 73.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,358,331 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $177,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001,177 shares during the last quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in CoStar Group by 42.9% in the third quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC now owns 500,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,720,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in CoStar Group by 16.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 103,547 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,812,000 after purchasing an additional 14,468 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in CoStar Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $621,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in CoStar Group by 497.9% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 5,940 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Stock Up 1.8 %

CSGP opened at $80.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $32.87 billion, a PE ratio of 229.00 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 9.63, a current ratio of 8.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.26 and a 52 week high of $100.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.68.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last released 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 analysts’ expectations of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. As a group, research analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CoStar Group announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 18th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in 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 typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CSGP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on CoStar Group from $99.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on CoStar Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $89.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CoStar Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.57% 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.