Short Interest in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Increases By 8.1%

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,700,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the December 15th total of 11,750,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,840,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days.

CoStar Group Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of CSGP traded up $0.43 on Friday, hitting $73.85. 2,189,276 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,214,693. The company has a market capitalization of $30.28 billion, a PE ratio of 167.84 and a beta of 0.85. CoStar Group has a one year low of $68.26 and a one year high of $100.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a current ratio of 9.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.34.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.53% and a net margin of 6.57%. The firm had revenue of $692.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total value of $439,340.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,696,784.24. This represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,919,389.69. This trade represents a 3.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in CoStar Group by 534.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 419 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 55.1% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CSGP. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup cut their price objective on CoStar Group from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.92.

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.