Barclays Upgrades Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) to “Hold”

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) was upgraded by analysts at Barclays from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on Z. Mizuho lowered shares of Zillow Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Zillow Group in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Zillow Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Zillow Group from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on Zillow Group in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.83.

Zillow Group Stock Up 0.3%

Z stock opened at $66.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $16.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -472.54, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 2.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.82. Zillow Group has a 52 week low of $57.51 and a 52 week high of $93.88.

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.02). Zillow Group had a negative net margin of 1.29% and a negative return on equity of 0.56%. The firm had revenue of $729.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $670.28 million. As a group, analysts expect that Zillow Group will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jeremy Hofmann sold 7,865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.53, for a total transaction of $546,853.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,811 shares in the company, valued at $4,923,488.83. This trade represents a 10.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO David A. Beitel sold 3,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.12, for a total value of $276,870.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 140,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,003,454.72. This trade represents a 2.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 67,511 shares of company stock worth $4,766,357 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 25.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Zillow Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Zillow Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Zillow Group in the third quarter worth about $29,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Zillow Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in Zillow Group by 58.6% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Zillow Group by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

About Zillow Group

Zillow Group, Inc is an online real estate marketplace company that operates a portfolio of consumer-facing websites and mobile apps designed to connect buyers, sellers, renters, homeowners and real estate professionals. The company’s platforms aggregate property listings, rental listings, and related information to help users search for homes, estimate property values and connect with agents and service providers. Zillow generates revenue primarily through advertising and lead-generation services for real estate professionals, property managers and mortgage lenders.

Key products and services include the Zillow and Trulia consumer websites and apps, which provide searchable listings, photos, neighborhood data and the company’s automated home valuation tool known as the “Zestimate.” Zillow also offers a rentals marketplace, a mortgage marketplace and tools for home buying and selling such as Zillow Premier Agent for agent advertising and leads, as well as ancillary services designed to support transactions, including closing and title-related offerings.