Erste Asset Management GmbH Makes New $17.35 Million Investment in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 230,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,351,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH owned approximately 0.06% of CoStar Group as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in CoStar Group by 2.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,117,260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $453,534,000 after purchasing an additional 124,761 shares during the last quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC grew its position in shares of CoStar Group by 90.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 4,138,987 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $306,831,000 after buying an additional 1,961,917 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in CoStar Group by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,684,373 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,509,000 after acquiring an additional 76,916 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in CoStar Group by 16.9% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,358,526 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $174,861,000 after acquiring an additional 341,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 0.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,096,255 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $158,141,000 after purchasing an additional 9,999 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSGP has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded CoStar Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $96.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.25.

CoStar Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSGP opened at $81.34 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 184.87 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 9.63 and a quick ratio of 9.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.50. CoStar Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $100.38.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.53% and a net margin of 6.57%. The company had revenue of $692.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. CoStar Group’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

In related news, CEO Andrew C. Florance acquired 14,731 shares of CoStar Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $74.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,099,963.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,263,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,315,527.66. The trade was a 1.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total value of $439,340.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,696,784.24. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.