KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Takes $10.15 Million Position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 141,800 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,151,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,059,744 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,286,987,000 after buying an additional 722,153 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in CoStar Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,308,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $850,656,000 after acquiring an additional 236,407 shares in the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in CoStar Group in the fourth quarter worth about $465,134,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in CoStar Group by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,818,249 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $201,758,000 after acquiring an additional 133,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of CoStar Group by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,810,540 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $200,504,000 after purchasing an additional 650,454 shares in the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CSGP. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on CoStar Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on CoStar Group from $99.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.07.

CoStar Group Price Performance

CSGP opened at $80.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $76.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.75. The company has a current ratio of 8.96, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.26 and a 1 year high of $97.64. The stock has a market cap of $32.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 228.97 and a beta of 0.93.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its quarterly 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 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. The business had revenue of $709.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.00 million. Analysts forecast that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CoStar Group announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CoStar Group news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

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.