Short Interest in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Increases By 8.1%

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,700,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the December 15th total of 11,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,840,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days.

CoStar Group Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:CSGP traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $73.85. 2,189,276 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,214,693. 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 52 week low of $68.26 and a 52 week high of $100.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 167.84 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $74.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.34.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last released its 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 posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that CoStar Group will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

In other CoStar Group news, CEO Andrew C. Florance purchased 14,731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,263,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,315,527.66. This represents a 1.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CoStar Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSGP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in CoStar Group by 14.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,697,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $125,889,000 after purchasing an additional 219,758 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 2nd quarter worth $1,192,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of CoStar Group by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 6,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CoStar Group during the second quarter valued at $207,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in CoStar Group by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 7,073 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 2,184 shares in the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on CoStar Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com lowered CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price 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. One investment 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.92.

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.