CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) Short Interest Up 47.7% in October

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,920,000 shares, a growth of 47.7% from the October 15th total of 8,070,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

CoStar Group Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSGP traded down $3.79 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.25. 3,569,653 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,384,428. 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 $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 161.94 and a beta of 0.82. CoStar Group has a one year low of $68.26 and a one year high of $100.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.52.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $692.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.91 million. CoStar Group had a return on equity of 3.53% and a net margin of 6.57%. CoStar Group’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CoStar Group will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoStar Group

In other news, Director Michael R. Klein sold 71,633 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $5,350,268.77. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,913,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,919,389.69. This represents a 3.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Andrew C. Florance bought 14,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $74.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,099,963.77. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,263,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,315,527.66. The trade was a 1.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in CoStar Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in CoStar Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,223,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in CoStar Group by 5.3% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 477,691 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,145,000 after purchasing an additional 23,987 shares in the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in CoStar Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $802,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in CoStar Group by 31.1% in the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 40,525 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,005,000 after purchasing an additional 9,618 shares in the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CSGP shares. StockNews.com lowered CoStar Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on CoStar Group from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup cut their target price on CoStar Group from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of CoStar Group in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered CoStar Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $96.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CoStar Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.25.

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.