Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,041 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,023 shares during the period. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $7,591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSGP. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CoStar Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,475,755 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $819,678,000 after acquiring an additional 166,769 shares during the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at $465,134,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the 4th quarter valued at $390,755,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,234,995 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $303,183,000 after buying an additional 486,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CoStar Group by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,818,249 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $201,758,000 after buying an additional 133,876 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on CoStar Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. William Blair began coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 29,456 shares in the company, valued at $2,353,534.40. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CoStar Group Price Performance

Shares of CSGP stock opened at $73.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 8.96 and a quick ratio of 9.63. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.26 and a 1-year high of $95.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $77.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.71. The firm has a market cap of $30.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 209.23 and a beta of 0.88.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 anticipate that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CoStar Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase 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.

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.