Kensico Capital Management Corp Invests $51.24 Million in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Kensico Capital Management Corp bought a new position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 715,800 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $51,244,000. CoStar Group comprises 1.2% of Kensico Capital Management Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Kensico Capital Management Corp owned about 0.17% of CoStar Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CSGP. Polen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 4th quarter worth about $465,134,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $390,755,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in CoStar Group by 44.9% in 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 buying an additional 4,345,267 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in CoStar Group by 24.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,267,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake 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 valued at $80,847,000 after buying an additional 1,079,815 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.60% of the company's stock.

CoStar Group Stock Performance

CSGP traded up $0.51 on Wednesday, hitting $75.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,698,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,864,564. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $78.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.19. The firm has a market cap of $31.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 216.26 and a beta of 0.89. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $89.33. The company has a quick ratio of 9.63, a current ratio of 8.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The company had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 5.07% and a return on equity of 3.11%. Analysts forecast that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

CoStar Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 18th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSGP has been the subject of several analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $89.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CoStar Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $88.31.

CoStar Group 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.