Next Century Growth Investors LLC Sells 12,485 Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Next Century Growth Investors LLC lessened its stake in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 48.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,506 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 12,485 shares during the period. Next Century Growth Investors LLC’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CoStar Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,475,755 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $819,678,000 after purchasing an additional 166,769 shares during the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $465,134,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CoStar Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $390,755,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in CoStar Group by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,234,995 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $303,183,000 after buying an additional 486,045 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in CoStar Group by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,818,249 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $201,758,000 after buying an additional 133,876 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CoStar Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSGP opened at $77.39 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $68.26 and a 12 month high of $93.94. The company has a market capitalization of $31.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 221.11 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $77.23 and its 200 day moving average is $75.76.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 3.11% and a net margin of 5.07%. The company had revenue of $709.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $703.00 million. Research analysts predict that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CSGP shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on CoStar Group from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on CoStar Group from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. 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. Finally, Craig Hallum started coverage on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.07.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $139,745.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 at this hyperlink. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.