Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) by 101.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,553 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 7,317 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in CoStar Group were worth $1,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of CoStar Group by 31.1% in the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 40,525 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,005,000 after purchasing an additional 9,618 shares during the last quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of CoStar Group by 42.9% in the third quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC now owns 500,000 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,720,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in CoStar Group by 469.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 248,043 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $18,712,000 after acquiring an additional 204,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in CoStar Group by 16.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 103,547 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,812,000 after acquiring an additional 14,468 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

CoStar Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSGP traded down $2.72 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $77.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,286,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,388,714. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $76.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.42. The company has a market cap of $31.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 181.25 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 9.63 and a quick ratio of 9.63.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.53% and a net margin of 6.57%. The company had revenue of $692.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.91 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. CoStar Group's revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on CoStar Group from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered CoStar Group from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $96.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered CoStar Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $93.25.

CoStar Group 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.