Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 2,558 Shares of CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its position in CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,788 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,558 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in CoStar Group were worth $4,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CSGP. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in CoStar Group by 534.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 419 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of CoStar Group during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of CoStar Group by 17,100.0% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 516 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of CoStar Group in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in CoStar Group by 1,825.5% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.60% of the company’s stock.

CoStar Group Stock Performance

CSGP opened at $75.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 9.63 and a current ratio of 9.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 171.54 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.81 and a 200 day moving average of $75.34. CoStar Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.26 and a fifty-two week high of $100.38.

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. CoStar Group had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 3.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CoStar Group, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CoStar Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 18th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSGP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on CoStar Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of CoStar Group in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of CoStar Group from $108.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on CoStar Group from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CoStar Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.23.

Insider Transactions at CoStar Group

In other CoStar Group news, insider Michael J. Desmarais sold 5,500 shares of CoStar Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total value of $439,340.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,798 shares in the company, valued at $4,696,784.24. The trade was a 8.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

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.