Short Interest in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Grows By 7.8%

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 9,300,000 shares, a growth of 7.8% from the April 15th total of 8,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,310,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days.

CoStar Group Price Performance

CSGP traded down $0.35 on Thursday, reaching $88.13. The company had a trading volume of 1,519,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,106,680. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 9.09 and a current ratio of 9.09. The company has a market cap of $35.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.73, a P/E/G ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.08. CoStar Group has a 52-week low of $67.35 and a 52-week high of $100.38.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $656.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.27 million. CoStar Group had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 4.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CoStar Group will post 0.45 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSGP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $95.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, April 12th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $90.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $102.46.

Insider Activity at CoStar Group

In other news, CFO Scott T. Wheeler sold 122,736 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $11,366,580.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 303,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,099,448.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Scott T. Wheeler sold 122,736 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $11,366,580.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 303,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,099,448.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 3,800 shares of CoStar Group stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.67, for a total transaction of $352,146.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,087 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,938,942.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CoStar Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CoStar Group by 4.7% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $242,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the technology company's stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of CoStar Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,658 shares of the technology company's stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in CoStar Group by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,775 shares of the technology company's stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in CoStar Group by 17.9% in the third quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC now owns 818 shares of the technology company's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.