CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Short Interest Update

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,060,000 shares, a decline of 7.2% from the October 31st total of 11,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of CoStar Group stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $5,350,268.77. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,913,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,919,389.69. This trade represents a 3.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew C. Florance acquired 14,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,099,963.77. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,263,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,315,527.66. This represents a 1.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CoStar Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CSGP. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,059,744 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,286,987,000 after acquiring an additional 722,153 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,308,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $850,656,000 after purchasing an additional 236,407 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in CoStar Group by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,117,260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $453,534,000 after purchasing an additional 124,761 shares during the period. Vulcan Value Partners LLC lifted its stake in CoStar Group by 90.1% in the second quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 4,138,987 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $306,831,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 2.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,684,373 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $202,509,000 after buying an additional 76,916 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CoStar Group Stock Performance

Shares of CSGP stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $80.15. 1,524,302 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,386,191. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.99 and its 200 day moving average is $76.39. The company has a market capitalization of $32.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 182.16 and a beta of 0.83. CoStar Group has a 1 year low of $68.26 and a 1 year high of $100.38. The company has a current ratio of 9.63, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.53% and a net margin of 6.57%. The firm had revenue of $692.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.91 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that CoStar Group will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of CoStar Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $96.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Friday, September 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.25.

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.