CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $72.62, but opened at $76.50. CoStar Group shares last traded at $73.60, with a volume of 905,769 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on CSGP shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $89.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, December 16th. William Blair started coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.07.

CoStar Group Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.71. The company has a market capitalization of $32.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 224.86 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a current ratio of 8.96.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The firm had revenue of $709.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.00 million. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. Analysts expect that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

CoStar Group announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Cynthia Cammett Cann sold 1,749 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $139,745.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,353,534.40. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Polen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $465,134,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CoStar Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $390,755,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in CoStar Group by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,032,363 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,004,578,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,267 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CoStar Group by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,415,895 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 2,181.8% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,129,307 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079,815 shares in the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CoStar Group Company 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.