CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,750,000 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the November 30th total of 11,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,840,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

CoStar Group Stock Down 0.3 %

CSGP traded down $0.23 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $71.59. The company had a trading volume of 2,124,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,401,117. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $75.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.52. The company has a market capitalization of $29.35 billion, a PE ratio of 162.71 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 9.63, a current ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CoStar Group has a one year low of $68.26 and a one year high of $100.38.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $695.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. CoStar Group's revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that CoStar Group will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CoStar Group

In other news, CEO Andrew C. Florance purchased 14,731 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $74.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,099,963.77. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,263,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,315,527.66. The trade was a 1.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of CoStar Group 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 sale, the director now owns 1,913,501 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CoStar Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSGP. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in CoStar Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. 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 valued at $37,720,000 after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of CoStar Group by 469.3% in 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. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $7,812,000 after acquiring an additional 14,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in CoStar Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $621,000. Institutional investors own 96.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on CSGP shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com downgraded CoStar Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CoStar Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.25.

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.