Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Invests $586.40 Million in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Key Points

• Mizuho Markets Americas LLC has purchased 7,401,273 shares of CoStar Group, valued at approximately $586.4 million, making it the largest holding in their portfolio at around 12%.
• Insider sales have occurred, including Frederick G. Saint selling 25,000 shares for about $2.33 million, resulting in a 7.26% decrease in his position.
• Analysts have recently boosted their price targets for CoStar Group, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. setting a target at $101.00, reflecting a generally positive outlook on the stock.

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,401,273 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $586,403,000. CoStar Group makes up about 12.0% of Mizuho Markets Americas LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC owned about 1.75% of CoStar Group as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 117.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,577 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 13,299 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 185.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,602 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,021,000 after purchasing an additional 27,049 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,234,995 shares of the technology company's stock worth $303,183,000 after purchasing an additional 486,045 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 79.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 197,425 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,134,000 after purchasing an additional 87,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 50,116 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,588,000 after acquiring an additional 2,537 shares during the period. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CoStar Group Stock Down 4.4%

CSGP traded down $4.04 on Tuesday, reaching $88.46. 5,088,429 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,028,937. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $85.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.04. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.26 and a 52-week high of $97.43. The company has a market cap of $37.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 353.84, a PEG ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 5.83 and a quick ratio of 5.83.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $781.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $772.06 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 2.88%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CSGP shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stephens upgraded shares of CoStar Group to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $93.25.

Insider Activity at CoStar Group

In other CoStar Group news, insider Frederick G. Saint sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.23, for a total value of $2,330,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 319,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,790,620.97. The trade was a 7.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 2,033 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.85, for a total transaction of $188,764.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 25,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Insiders own 1.09% of the company's stock.

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.