Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Boosts Stock Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,034,152 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,675 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.25% of CoStar Group worth $74,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Polen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in CoStar Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $465,134,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the fourth quarter worth $390,755,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 91.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,249,188 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $169,678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,793 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position 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 valued at $177,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001,177 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in CoStar Group by 4.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,059,744 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,286,987,000 after purchasing an additional 722,153 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSGP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of CoStar Group from $99.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.07.

CoStar Group Stock Down 1.0 %

CSGP opened at $79.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.53 billion, a PE ratio of 226.60 and a beta of 0.93. CoStar Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.26 and a twelve month high of $96.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $76.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.81. 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) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The business had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. Sell-side analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CoStar Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

In other CoStar Group news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.