California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 639,824 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 42,157 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $45,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Polen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $465,134,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CoStar Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $390,755,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in CoStar Group by 91.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,249,188 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $169,678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,793 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in CoStar Group by 73.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,358,331 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $177,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 4.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,059,744 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,286,987,000 after purchasing an additional 722,153 shares during the period. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

In other CoStar Group news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $139,745.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,353,534.40. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on CSGP shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $103.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $89.00 price target for the company. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.07.

CoStar Group Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:CSGP opened at $79.18 on Wednesday. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.26 and a 1-year high of $95.71. The company has a market capitalization of $32.47 billion, a PE ratio of 226.23 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $77.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 8.96 and a quick ratio of 9.63.

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

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