CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $88.07.

CSGP has been the topic of a number of research reports. William Blair initiated coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $89.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on CoStar Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock.

Institutional Trading of CoStar Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,048,000. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of CoStar Group by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 106,764 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,643,000 after acquiring an additional 4,949 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in CoStar Group by 187.2% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 98,108 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,024,000 after purchasing an additional 63,948 shares during the period. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in CoStar Group during the fourth quarter valued at $287,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in CoStar Group by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,500 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the period. 96.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CoStar Group Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of CoStar Group stock opened at $79.39 on Tuesday. CoStar Group has a one year low of $68.26 and a one year high of $100.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 8.96 and a quick ratio of 9.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $74.73 and its 200 day moving average is $75.63. The firm has a market cap of $32.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 226.83 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 the consensus estimate of $0.22. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. The company had revenue of $709.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.00 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that CoStar Group will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

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

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.