Principal Securities Inc. Sells 399 Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Principal Securities Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,617 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 399 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $1,977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in CoStar Group by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,059,744 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,286,987,000 after acquiring an additional 722,153 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,308,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $850,656,000 after purchasing an additional 236,407 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in CoStar Group by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,684,373 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $202,509,000 after purchasing an additional 76,916 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in CoStar Group by 73.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,358,331 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $177,913,000 after buying an additional 1,001,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 91.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,249,188 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $169,678,000 after buying an additional 1,073,793 shares in the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSGP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.23.

CoStar Group Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:CSGP opened at $75.48 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $73.81 and its 200 day moving average is $75.34. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.94 billion, a PE ratio of 171.54 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 9.63, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.53% and a net margin of 6.57%. Sell-side analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

CoStar Group announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

In other CoStar Group news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total transaction of $439,340.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,696,784.24. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

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.