Hills Bank & Trust Co Increases Stock Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,374 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in CoStar Group by 534.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 419 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new position in CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in CoStar Group by 17,100.0% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 516 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CoStar Group Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of CSGP stock opened at $78.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 224.94 and a beta of 0.93. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.26 and a 1-year high of $100.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 8.96 and a quick ratio of 9.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.66.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 5.07% and a return on equity of 3.11%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

CoStar Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 18th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CoStar Group news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total value of $139,745.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,353,534.40. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $89.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.07.

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.