Baillie Gifford & Co. Buys 524,601 Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Key Points

• Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in CoStar Group by 6.6% in the first quarter, acquiring a total of 8,436,199 shares valued at approximately $668.4 million.
• Several hedge funds significantly enhanced their positions in CoStar Group, with Norges Bank investing around $390.8 million and Capital International Investors increasing its holdings by nearly 45%.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $93.25 for CoStar Group, with ratings ranging from "sell" to "strong buy," indicating positive sentiment toward the stock.

Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) by 6.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,436,199 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 524,601 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 2.00% of CoStar Group worth $668,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 137.4% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 406 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 414.4% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 499 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 674 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $87.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (up previously from $65.00) on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two investment 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 MarketBeat, CoStar Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.25.

CoStar Group Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:CSGP traded up $1.40 on Tuesday, reaching $94.76. 1,166,625 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,196,041. The company has a market capitalization of $40.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 378.95, a PEG ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 5.83, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $94.75. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $81.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.42.

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. The business had revenue of $781.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $772.06 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 2.88%. CoStar Group's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. Equities analysts predict that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.