Baird Financial Group Inc. Sells 518,868 Shares of Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 27.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,371,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 518,868 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned 0.14% of Copart worth $67,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in Copart by 0.7% during the second quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 30,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 12,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Copart by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Copart by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 28,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Copart by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Copart

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $1,087,635.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,403,360.28. This trade represents a 43.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.07, for a total value of $3,907,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 353,123 shares of company stock valued at $15,873,689. Company insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of CPRT opened at $38.80 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.51. The company has a market capitalization of $37.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.66 and a beta of 1.12. Copart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.61 and a 52-week high of $63.85.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. Copart had a net margin of 34.24% and a return on equity of 17.78%. Copart’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on CPRT shares. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $32.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Friday, November 21st. HSBC set a $62.00 price objective on Copart and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Copart has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.60.

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.