Jeremy Hofmann Sells 5,661 Shares of Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) Stock

Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZG) CFO Jeremy Hofmann sold 5,661 shares of Zillow Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total value of $193,492.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,021,541.92. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Jeremy Hofmann also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, August 13th, Jeremy Hofmann sold 3,510 shares of Zillow Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.24, for a total transaction of $120,182.40.

Zillow Group Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:ZG opened at $35.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.37, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.80. Zillow Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.03 and a 12 month high of $90.22.

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $772.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $758.25 million. Zillow Group had a return on equity of 2.32% and a net margin of 1.96%.The business’s revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. Research analysts expect that Zillow Group, Inc. will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ZG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on Zillow Group from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Zillow Group from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Zillow Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, August 6th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Zillow Group from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Zillow Group from $70.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Zillow Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.29.

Zillow Group News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Zillow Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: U.S. asking rents rose to $1,962 in July, increasing 2.3% from a year earlier—the fastest growth in more than a year. Strong rental demand could support Zillow’s traffic, advertising activity and rental-related revenue. Rents near $2,000, rising at the fastest pace in over a year
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Jeremy Wacksman, CFO Jeremy Hofmann, CAO Jennifer Rock, CTO David Beitel and other insiders sold shares worth roughly $1.5 million in aggregate. The transactions were made under pre-arranged trading plans or to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards, making them a relatively weak signal of deteriorating management confidence. Zillow Group insider filings
• Negative Sentiment: Rental concessions increased to 39.8% of Zillow listings in July from 35.9% a year earlier. Although rent growth remains positive, the higher use of concessions suggests landlords still face competitive pressure, which could temper the benefit to Zillow’s rental marketplace.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts have recently lowered several price targets, including Wells Fargo’s reduction to $35 and Canaccord Genuity’s reduction to $40. Zillow Group’s consensus rating remains “Hold,” despite its latest quarterly earnings beat of $0.52 per share versus the $0.44 estimate. Zillow Group analyst and stock information

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zillow Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Technology Crossover Management XI Ltd. bought a new position in Zillow Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $73,694,895,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Zillow Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $152,050,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Zillow Group by 38,344.0% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,604,270 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $120,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600,097 shares during the period. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Zillow Group in the second quarter worth $37,265,000. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Zillow Group by 44.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,018,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $69,489,000 after acquiring an additional 313,643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 20.32% of the company’s stock.

About Zillow Group

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) is a U.S.-based online real estate marketplace that connects consumers, real estate professionals and mortgage lenders through a suite of digital products and advertising services. Founded in 2006 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company operates a portfolio of consumer-facing brands and tools designed to simplify home search, rental discovery, valuation and mortgage shopping.

Zillow’s core products include its consumer websites and mobile apps that list homes for sale and rent, the Zestimate automated home value estimate, and marketplaces that connect buyers and renters with agents and lenders.