Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) Shares Climb 5.8% – Here’s What Happened

Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZG)’s share price traded up 5.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $29.50 and last traded at $29.5910. Approximately 669,595 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 1,151,003 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.97.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ZG. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Zillow Group in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Zillow Group from $52.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Zillow Group in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Zillow Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Zillow Group from $53.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.38.

Zillow Group Trading Down 0.1%

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.06 and a 200-day moving average of $35.79. The company has a market capitalization of $6.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 135.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 2.02.

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:ZG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $758.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Zillow Group, Inc. will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jeremy Hofmann sold 5,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total transaction of $193,492.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,144 shares in the company, valued at $2,021,541.92. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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. Also, Director Erik C. Blachford sold 792 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.71, for a total value of $28,282.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,160 shares in the company, valued at $1,219,853.60. This represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,539 shares of company stock worth $1,323,800. 29.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zillow Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZG. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Zillow Group in the second quarter valued at $436,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in shares of Zillow Group by 1,290.7% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 95,959 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,010,000 after buying an additional 89,059 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zillow Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Zillow Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $340,000. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Zillow Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,000. Institutional investors own 20.32% of the company’s stock.

About Zillow Group

Zillow Group, Inc is a digital real estate company that operates online marketplaces and technology platforms designed to help consumers buy, sell, rent and finance homes. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company serves the U.S. residential real estate market through a portfolio of well-known brands.

Its flagship Zillow platform provides home listings, property information, estimated home values through its Zestimate tool, rental listings, mortgage resources and connections to real estate professionals.