By Mackenzie Tatananni

Commercial real-estate giant CoStar Group is embroiled in a battle with two activist investors. All the while, insiders have been buying shares.

Board director Rachel Glaser snapped up 1,000 shares for $44.94 apiece on Monday. The purchase brought her direct holdings to 4,157 shares, which were valued at $197,873 based on Wednesday's closing price of $47.60.

Fred Saint, the CoStar's president of marketplaces, bought 20,000 shares on March 1. At an average price of $45.33 each, Saint secured around $906,600 worth of stock. His direct holdings came to 279,851 shares following the purchase and a separate transaction to cover tax obligations.

The highest-ranking executive to buy company stock was CEO and Founder Andy Florance, who purchased 55,720 shares for $44.52 apiece on Feb. 27. After the transaction, Florance directly held 1,586,866.03 shares worth more than $75 million. The amount includes fractional shares.

CoStar didn't respond to a request for comment on the purchases.

Activist investors D.E. Shaw and Third Point are pressuring CoStar to scale back its multibillion-dollar inves t ment in Homes.com, the real estate marketplace it acquired in 2021. Since that deal closed, shares have plunged 44% against a 64% gain for the S&P 500. The stock is down sharply from its all-time closing high of $99.74 in October 2021.

Both activist firms previously secured board seats and created a capital allocation committee in 2025, but they argue those changes haven't improved performance. Third Point renewed its campaign in January, with CEO Daniel Loeb calling the board "feckless" and demanding a change in strategy. D.E. Shaw sent an open letter to CoStar the following month.

CoStar asserted in January that Third Point's demand to abandon Homes.com reflects a misunderstanding of the company's "strong progress." In a separate letter to D.E. Shaw in February, CoStar accused the firm of pushing "a false narrative" that the company hadn't "substantially engaged with D.E. Shaw or considered their feedback."

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron's feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members -- so-called insiders -- as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com

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March 07, 2026 03:30 ET (08:30 GMT)

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