Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,186,275 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 201,244 shares during the quarter. CoStar Group comprises approximately 0.7% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 4.68% of CoStar Group worth $1,373,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 1.6% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 8,638 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,027 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,950 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 19,133 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,443,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.60% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total value of $439,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,696,784.24. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CSGP. StockNews.com cut CoStar Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on CoStar Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on CoStar Group from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on CoStar Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $88.00.

CoStar Group Price Performance

Shares of CoStar Group stock traded down $0.87 during trading on Thursday, hitting $78.35. The stock had a trading volume of 4,804,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,760,711. The firm has a market cap of $32.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 223.84 and a beta of 0.87. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38. The business's 50-day moving average is $73.82 and its 200 day moving average is $75.37. The company has a current ratio of 9.63, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. CoStar Group had a net margin of 5.07% and a return on equity of 3.13%. The firm had revenue of $709.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $703.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

CoStar Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.