William Blair Initiates Coverage on Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG)

Stock analysts at William Blair began coverage on shares of Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “market perform” rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on ZG. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Zillow Group from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Zillow Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised their target price on Zillow Group from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Zillow Group from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Zillow Group in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zillow Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.05.

Zillow Group Stock Performance

Shares of ZG opened at $61.78 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.99 billion, a PE ratio of -131.45, a PEG ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 2.22. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $68.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.70. Zillow Group has a 52 week low of $38.06 and a 52 week high of $86.58.

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.48). Zillow Group had a negative return on equity of 2.12% and a negative net margin of 5.01%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Zillow Group will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jun Choo sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.18, for a total transaction of $4,299,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 86,853 shares in the company, valued at $6,790,167.54. This represents a 38.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeremy Hofmann sold 1,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.98, for a total value of $136,987.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,443,782.76. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 98,919 shares of company stock worth $7,869,478 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ZG. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Zillow Group during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Zillow Group by 70.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new position in Zillow Group during the first quarter worth about $42,000. CX Institutional acquired a new position in shares of Zillow Group during the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zillow Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors own 20.32% of the company’s stock.

Zillow Group Company Profile

Zillow Group, Inc operates real estate brands in mobile applications and Websites in the United States. The company offers premier agent and rentals marketplaces, new construction marketplaces, advertising, display advertising, and business technology solutions, as well as dotloop and floor plans. It also provides mortgage originations and the sale of mortgages, and advertising to mortgage lenders and other mortgage professionals; and title and escrow services.