Short Interest in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Rises By 5.7%

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,750,000 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the November 30th total of 11,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,840,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

CoStar Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSGP opened at $72.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.52. CoStar Group has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38. The firm has a market cap of $29.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 164.62 and a beta of 0.83. 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 (NASDAQ:CSGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $692.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $695.91 million. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.53% and a net margin of 6.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that CoStar Group will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CoStar Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in CoStar Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of CoStar Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in CoStar Group during the third quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in CoStar Group during the second quarter worth $104,000. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered CoStar Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $96.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.08.

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.