Nicholas Company Inc. Buys 63,814 Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Nicholas Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 42.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 214,414 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 63,814 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $15,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in CoStar Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in CoStar Group by 534.8% during 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 during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in CoStar Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in CoStar Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in CoStar Group by 17,100.0% during the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSGP has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $99.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CoStar Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CoStar Group news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of CoStar Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $139,745.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,353,534.40. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of CoStar Group stock opened at $78.73 on Friday. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.26 and a 1 year high of $100.38. The firm has a market cap of $32.29 billion, a PE ratio of 224.94 and a beta of 0.93. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.66.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The business had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 5.07% and a return on equity of 3.11%. Analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CoStar Group declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 18th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.