LPL Financial LLC Has $35.38 Million Stock Holdings in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in CoStar Group, acquiring an additional 13,781 shares, leading to a total holding of 446,550 shares valued at $35.38 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Capital International Investors and T. Rowe Price Investment Management, significantly increased their stakes in CoStar Group during the 4th quarter, showcasing strong institutional interest.
• CoStar Group reported a 15.2% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings of $0.17 per share, beating analyst expectations of $0.14.

LPL Financial LLC grew its position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 446,550 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,781 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.11% of CoStar Group worth $35,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CSGP. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 53.1% in the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 652 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on CSGP. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.25.

Insider Activity

In other CoStar Group news, insider Frederick G. Saint sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $29,790,620.97. This represents a 7.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 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 trade represents 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 corporate insiders.

CoStar Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSGP traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $94.60. The company had a trading volume of 2,841,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,978,683. The company has a quick ratio of 5.83, a current ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 378.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.05. CoStar Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.26 and a twelve month high of $97.15.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last issued 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 business had revenue of $781.30 million for 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current 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.