Harbor Advisors LLC Boosts Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 22,560 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $1,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 73.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,358,331 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $177,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001,177 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 16.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 103,547 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,812,000 after purchasing an additional 14,468 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CoStar Group during the third quarter worth about $621,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 497.9% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 5,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 33.6% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,260,157 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $95,066,000 after purchasing an additional 317,017 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Stock Performance

Shares of CSGP stock opened at $78.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a current ratio of 8.96. CoStar Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.26 and a fifty-two week high of $97.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $76.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.74. The company has a market capitalization of $32.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 224.17 and a beta of 0.93.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced 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 company had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. Analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

CoStar Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 18th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. William Blair began coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. StockNews.com lowered CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $89.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.07.

Insider Activity at CoStar Group

In related news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $139,745.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,456 shares in the company, valued at $2,353,534.40. This represents a 5.60 % 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. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.