Allianz SE Makes New Investment in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Allianz SE purchased a new stake in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 25,512 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,832,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in CoStar Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 534.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 419 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in CoStar Group during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in CoStar Group in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in CoStar Group by 17,100.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CoStar Group news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 29,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,353,534.40. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CSGP shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on CoStar Group from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $89.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.07.

CoStar Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSGP opened at $79.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 226.60 and a beta of 0.93. CoStar Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.26 and a twelve month high of $96.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.96 and a 200-day moving average of $75.81. The company has a quick ratio of 9.63, a current ratio of 8.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The firm had revenue of $709.40 million for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

CoStar Group announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 18th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.