Next Century Growth Investors LLC Sells 12,485 Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Next Century Growth Investors LLC cut its holdings in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 48.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,506 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 12,485 shares during the period. Next Century Growth Investors LLC’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSGP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,001,177 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in CoStar Group by 497.9% in the 4th 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. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CoStar Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $621,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in CoStar Group by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,950 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the fourth quarter worth $27,446,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSGP has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. William Blair initiated coverage on CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CoStar Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.07.

CoStar Group Price Performance

CoStar Group stock opened at $77.39 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 221.11 and a beta of 0.88. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.26 and a 1 year high of $93.94.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The firm had revenue of $709.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. As a group, equities 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 initiated 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 reacquire up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total value of $139,745.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,353,534.40. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.