Jeremy Hofmann Sells 3,510 Shares of Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) Stock

Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZG) CFO Jeremy Hofmann sold 3,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.24, for a total value of $120,182.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 64,805 shares in the company, valued at $2,218,923.20. The trade was a 5.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 Monday, August 17th, Jeremy Hofmann sold 5,661 shares of Zillow Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total transaction of $193,492.98.

Zillow Group Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of Zillow Group stock opened at $35.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.37, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.95. Zillow Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.03 and a 12-month high of $90.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.80.

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.08. Zillow Group had a net margin of 1.96% and a return on equity of 2.32%. The company had revenue of $772.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $758.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Zillow Group, Inc. will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Zillow Group News

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

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Zillow Group by 38,344.0% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,604,270 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $120,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600,097 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Zillow Group during the first quarter worth about $1,494,000. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Zillow Group by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 2,024,556 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $138,135,000 after buying an additional 21,862 shares during the period. Deltroit Asset Management UK LLP bought a new position in Zillow Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,715,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Zillow Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,546,000. Institutional investors own 20.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Zillow Group from $70.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Zillow Group from $53.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 12th. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Zillow Group in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Zillow Group from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Zillow Group from $68.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.29.

Zillow Group Company Profile

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.