Aureus Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 279,807 CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Aureus Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 279,807 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,109,000. CoStar Group comprises approximately 1.4% of Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Aureus Asset Management LLC owned about 0.07% of CoStar Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the first quarter worth approximately $4,223,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted 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 period. Telemark Asset Management LLC boosted 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 period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in shares of CoStar Group by 111.9% in the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 16,726 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 8,833 shares during the period. 96.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $5,350,268.77. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,913,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,919,389.69. This represents a 3.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total transaction of $439,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,696,784.24. This represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSGP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.25.

CoStar Group Price Performance

CSGP stock opened at $81.34 on Monday. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.26 and a 52 week high of $100.38. The company has a quick ratio of 9.63, a current ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 184.87 and a beta of 0.82.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. CoStar Group had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 3.53%. The business had revenue of $692.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. CoStar Group’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.