Equitable Trust Co. Cuts Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Key Points

• Equitable Trust Co. reduced its stake in CoStar Group, Inc. by 3.6% during the first quarter, owning 98,457 shares valued at approximately $7.8 million.
• Institutional investors are showing strong activity in CoStar Group, including a 2,181.8% increase in Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's position during the fourth quarter.
• Analyst ratings for CoStar Group currently show a consensus of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $93.25.

Equitable Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,457 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 3,627 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.'s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $7,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CoStar Group during the 4th quarter worth $390,755,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in CoStar Group by 44.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,032,363 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,004,578,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,267 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in CoStar Group by 24.6% during the 4th 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. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in CoStar Group by 2,181.8% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,129,307 shares of the technology company's stock worth $80,847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,079,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ShawSpring Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,133,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CSGP shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America started coverage on CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, May 30th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $79.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on CoStar Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (up previously from $65.00) on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.25.

CoStar Group Price Performance

CSGP opened at $92.96 on Friday. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.26 and a 1 year high of $93.75. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $80.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.22 billion, a PE ratio of 371.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 6.01 and a current ratio of 5.83.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $781.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $772.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. CoStar Group's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.