Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of CoStar Group Put Options (NASDAQ:CSGP)

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 3,531 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 129% compared to the average daily volume of 1,541 put options.

CoStar Group Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ CSGP traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $73.42. 2,226,065 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,587,947. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.10 billion, a PE ratio of 166.87 and a beta of 0.85. 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 has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.34.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $692.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $695.91 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 3.53%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that CoStar Group will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CSGP. Citigroup lowered their price target on CoStar Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Monday, December 9th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut CoStar Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $92.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in CoStar Group by 534.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 419 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $91,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in CoStar Group during the second quarter worth about $104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.