Principal Securities Inc. Has $1.98 Million Stock Holdings in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Principal Securities Inc. trimmed its stake in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 31,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,401,000 after purchasing an additional 6,939 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in CoStar Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 8,638 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in CoStar Group by 175.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,979 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 1,899 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of CoStar Group by 25.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 451,560 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,066,000 after buying an additional 92,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total value of $439,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,696,784.24. This represents a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Stock Up 1.9 %

CSGP stock opened at $75.48 on Wednesday. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.26 and a 52 week high of $100.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.34. The company has a quick ratio of 9.63, a current ratio of 9.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $30.94 billion, a PE ratio of 171.54 and a beta of 0.87.

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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSGP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Monday, December 16th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.23.

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.