Short Interest in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Rises By 47.7%

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,920,000 shares, an increase of 47.7% from the October 15th total of 8,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Andrew C. Florance purchased 14,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $74.67 per share, with a total value of $1,099,963.77. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,263,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,315,527.66. This represents a 1.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $5,350,268.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,913,501 shares in the company, valued at $142,919,389.69. The trade was a 3.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CoStar Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 4.7% during the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 2.9% during the second quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 4,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of CoStar Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 8,638 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of CoStar Group by 2.0% during the third quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,027 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of CoStar Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 36,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:CSGP traded down $0.73 on Thursday, reaching $75.04. 2,696,953 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,379,063. The company has a market capitalization of $30.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 172.21 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 9.63, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CoStar Group has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.68.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. CoStar Group had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 3.53%. The business had revenue of $692.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.91 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. CoStar Group’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that CoStar Group will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CSGP. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $107.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $108.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CoStar Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.25.

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.