California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Stock Position in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 89.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,548,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,200,035 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.26% of Copart worth $125,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Copart by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,408,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,221,483,000 after buying an additional 2,144,946 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Copart by 3.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,462,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $999,305,000 after acquiring an additional 656,333 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Copart by 15.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,345,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $868,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,106,656 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Copart during the second quarter worth $549,448,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Copart by 7.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,160,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $498,566,000 after purchasing an additional 670,061 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $38.72 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.48 billion, a PE ratio of 23.61 and a beta of 1.12. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.61 and a fifty-two week high of $63.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.13.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The business services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CPRT has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Copart from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Copart from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 21st. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.60.

Insider Activity at Copart

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $1,087,635.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,403,360.28. The trade was a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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. Insiders have sold 353,123 shares of company stock valued at $15,873,689 over the last quarter. 9.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.