CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $93.08.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CoStar Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $103.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup reduced their price target on CoStar Group from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

CoStar Group Price Performance

CoStar Group stock opened at $69.87 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 9.63, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $75.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.42. CoStar Group has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38. The company has a market cap of $28.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.80 and a beta of 0.85.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $695.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that CoStar Group will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at CoStar Group

In other CoStar Group news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total value of $439,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,696,784.24. This represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of CoStar Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $5,350,268.77. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,913,501 shares in the company, valued at $142,919,389.69. This trade represents 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 currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CoStar Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in CoStar Group during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in CoStar Group by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,358,331 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $177,913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,001,177 shares during the period. Telemark Asset Management LLC grew its position in CoStar Group by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC now owns 500,000 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,720,000 after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in CoStar Group by 469.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 248,043 shares of the technology company's stock worth $18,712,000 after purchasing an additional 204,474 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in CoStar Group by 16.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 14,468 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.60% of the company's stock.

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.