Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $332,000 in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in Copart by 1,047.8% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 18,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $906,000 after acquiring an additional 16,880 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in Copart by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 381,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,669,000 after purchasing an additional 15,777 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in Copart by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 226,815 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,094,000 after buying an additional 3,261 shares during the period. FFT Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Copart by 7,761.2% in the 4th quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 423,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,766,000 after buying an additional 418,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in shares of Copart by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 14,421 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $707,000 after buying an additional 2,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Copart from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total value of $34,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 19,687,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,137,374,604.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Copart news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total transaction of $34,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 19,687,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,137,374,604.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Matt Blunt sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total transaction of $5,106,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 985,000 shares of company stock worth $55,519,950. Company insiders own 10.23% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of CPRT stock opened at $55.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $53.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.68 and a beta of 1.22. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.57 and a fifty-two week high of $58.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.98.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 21.55%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Copart Profile

Copart, Inc provides online auctions and vehicle remarketing services. It offers a range of services for processing and selling vehicles over the Internet through its Virtual Bidding Third Generation Internet auction-style sales technology on behalf of vehicle sellers, insurance companies, banks and finance companies, charities, and fleet operators and dealers, as well as individual owners.