Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Stock Position in Zillow Group, Inc. $Z

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its position in shares of Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z) by 42.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 271,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 198,745 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Zillow Group were worth $11,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Doliver Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Zillow Group by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 9,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $661,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Zillow Group by 4.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Zillow Group by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Zillow Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its position in Zillow Group by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 3,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zillow Group

In related news, Director Erik C. Blachford sold 791 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total transaction of $27,526.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,216,329.60. This represents a 2.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Bradley D. Owens sold 3,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.23, for a total value of $125,241.72. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 65,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,429,071.35. This trade represents a 4.90% decrease in their position. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,910 shares of company stock valued at $1,605,732. Corporate insiders own 25.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on Z shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Zillow Group from $95.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Zillow Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Zillow Group from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Zillow Group from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Zillow Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Zillow Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.00.

Zillow Group Trading Up 5.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:Z opened at $31.15 on Friday. Zillow Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.23 and a 52 week high of $93.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $37.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.19. The company has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 124.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.97.

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $708.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $705.10 million. Zillow Group had a return on equity of 1.41% and a net margin of 2.27%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Zillow Group, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

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.