Forsta AP Fonden Reduces Stock Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden reduced its stake in CoStar Group, Inc. by 6.1%, bringing its ownership to 78,200 shares valued at $6,196,000 as of the latest SEC filing.
• Institutional investors hold a significant majority of CoStar Group's stock, with 96.60% of the company owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• CoStar Group recently reported a 15.2% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings per share of $0.17, surpassing the analyst consensus estimate of $0.14.

Forsta AP Fonden trimmed its position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,200 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 5,100 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in CoStar Group were worth $6,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CoStar Group by 42.4% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,210 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the first quarter valued at $221,000. PFG Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the first quarter valued at $234,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CoStar Group by 6.3% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,385 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the first quarter valued at $4,835,000. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

CoStar Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSGP traded down $4.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $88.46. The stock had a trading volume of 5,088,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,028,937. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a current ratio of 5.83. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.26 and a 52 week high of $97.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.48 billion, a PE ratio of 353.84, a PEG ratio of 4.50 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 2.88% and a net margin of 3.57%. The business had revenue of $781.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $772.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at CoStar Group

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 25,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,392,837.35. The trade was a 7.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 319,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,790,620.97. This represents a 7.26% decrease in their position. 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.