CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) Hits New 52-Week High - Here's Why

Key Points

• CoStar Group's stock reached a new 52-week high of $97.43 during trading, with a volume of 45,307 shares exchanged.
• Analysts remain optimistic, with multiple firms raising their target prices to as high as $105.00 and assigning "outperform" and "buy" ratings to the stock.
• In its latest earnings report, CoStar Group surpassed expectations with a reported $0.17 EPS against a consensus of $0.14, while revenues increased by 15.2% year-over-year.

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $97.43 and last traded at $97.27, with a volume of 45307 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $96.83.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSGP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on CoStar Group from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on CoStar Group from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Stephens raised CoStar Group to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Bank of America started coverage on CoStar Group in a report on Friday, May 30th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $79.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on CoStar Group from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CoStar Group has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.25.

CoStar Group Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.49. The company has a current ratio of 5.83, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $40.66 billion, a PE ratio of 383.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.85.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. CoStar Group had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 2.88%. The business had revenue of $781.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $772.06 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. CoStar Group's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CoStar Group news, insider Frederick G. Saint sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.23, for a total transaction of $2,330,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 319,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,790,620.97. This trade represents a 7.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 2,033 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.85, for a total value of $188,764.05. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 25,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,837.35. This represents a 7.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.09% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in CoStar Group in the first quarter worth about $586,403,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,032,363 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,004,578,000 after buying an additional 4,345,267 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 4.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,426,711 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,421,448,000 after buying an additional 2,709,320 shares during the period. Third Point LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the 1st quarter valued at $156,479,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,415,895 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $459,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,263 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.60% of the company's stock.

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.