Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Cuts Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 25,257 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 655 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $1,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSGP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in CoStar Group by 73.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,358,331 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $177,913,000 after buying an additional 1,001,177 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CoStar Group during the third quarter valued at $621,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in CoStar Group by 101.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,553 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 7,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in CoStar Group by 79.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 293,148 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $22,115,000 after purchasing an additional 130,045 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other CoStar Group news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $139,745.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,353,534.40. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of CSGP stock opened at $79.31 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.83. The stock has a market cap of $32.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 226.60 and a beta of 0.93. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $96.98. The company has a current ratio of 8.96, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $703.00 million. On average, research analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on CoStar Group from $99.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on CoStar Group from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.07.

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.