Commerce Bank Cuts Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Key Points

• Commerce Bank reduced its holdings in CoStar Group by 18.5%, selling 2,707 shares, leaving it with 11,945 shares worth approximately $946,000.
• Analysts have upgraded their ratings for CoStar Group, with several firms increasing their target prices, including a rise from $91.00 to $100.00 by Citigroup.
• CoStar Group's stock recently traded at $96.29, reflecting a minor decline of 0.3%, and the company reported a 15.2% year-over-year revenue increase with earnings surpassing analyst expectations.

Commerce Bank lowered its stake in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) by 18.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,945 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,707 shares during the period. Commerce Bank's holdings in CoStar Group were worth $946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hartford Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 25,748 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,040,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 110,049 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,719,000 after buying an additional 11,941 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,573 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 1,486 shares during the period. American Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 1st quarter valued at $755,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 594,602 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $47,110,000 after buying an additional 55,589 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.60% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CoStar Group news, insider Frederick G. Saint sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 319,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,790,620.97. This trade represents a 7.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 2,033 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,392,837.35. The trade was a 7.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CoStar Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSGP traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $94.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,429,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,001,959. The firm has a market cap of $40.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 378.00, a PEG ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 0.85. 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 fifty-two week low of $68.26 and a fifty-two week high of $97.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $84.95 and a 200-day moving average of $79.77.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CSGP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CoStar Group from $87.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on CoStar Group from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stephens raised CoStar Group to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CoStar Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Two equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.25.

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.