William Blair Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP)

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by research analysts at William Blair in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,RTT News reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on CoStar Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.00.

CoStar Group Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:CSGP opened at $78.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 223.84 and a beta of 0.87. CoStar Group 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $73.82 and a 200 day moving average of $75.37.

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

CoStar Group declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 18th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CoStar Group news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 58,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,696,784.24. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CoStar Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 534.8% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 419 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in CoStar Group during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CoStar Group by 414.4% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 499 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. 96.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.