Fred Alger Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Fred Alger Management LLC reduced its stake in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) by 67.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 92,787 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 196,269 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC's holdings in CoStar Group were worth $6,643,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Polen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in CoStar Group in the 4th quarter worth $465,134,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the fourth quarter worth about $390,755,000. Capital International Investors raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 4,345,267 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,267,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 2,181.8% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,129,307 shares of the technology company's stock worth $80,847,000 after buying an additional 1,079,815 shares during the period. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CSGP shares. StockNews.com cut CoStar Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Craig Hallum started coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, William Blair started coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $88.31.

Insider Transactions at CoStar Group

In other news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total value of $139,745.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,456 shares in the company, valued at $2,353,534.40. This trade represents a 5.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company's stock.

CoStar Group Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ CSGP traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $75.71. The stock had a trading volume of 801,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,853,164. The stock has a market cap of $31.94 billion, a PE ratio of 216.31 and a beta of 0.89. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.26 and a 1 year high of $89.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 8.96 and a quick ratio of 9.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.19.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. The firm had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $703.00 million. On average, research analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

CoStar Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.