Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP)

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by investment analysts at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $103.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Stephens’ target price indicates a potential upside of 30.03% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on CoStar Group from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.15.

CoStar Group Trading Up 5.0 %

Shares of CSGP opened at $79.21 on Tuesday. CoStar Group has a fifty-two week low of $68.26 and a fifty-two week high of $100.38. The firm has a market cap of $32.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 180.03 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a current ratio of 9.63.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last posted its quarterly 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. CoStar Group had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 3.53%. The business had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CoStar Group will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of CoStar Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total value of $439,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,696,784.24. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CoStar Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Polen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in CoStar Group during the fourth quarter valued at $465,134,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CoStar Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $390,755,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,032,363 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,004,578,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,267 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in CoStar Group by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,415,895 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,263 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in CoStar Group by 2,181.8% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,129,307 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,847,000 after buying an additional 1,079,815 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

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.