ABC Arbitrage SA Lowers Stock Position in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

ABC Arbitrage SA lowered its position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,319 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,656 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA’s holdings in Copart were worth $1,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Copart in the second quarter worth about $549,448,000. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in Copart by 75.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 7,000,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,511,000 after purchasing an additional 3,007,820 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Copart by 75.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,579,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $322,851,000 after acquiring an additional 2,824,991 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,408,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,221,483,000 after purchasing an additional 2,144,946 shares during the period. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Copart by 39.4% during the second quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,315,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $260,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503,771 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on CPRT shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 21st. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (up from $32.00) on shares of Copart in a research report on Friday, November 21st. CJS Securities upgraded Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.60.

Copart Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $39.51 on Thursday. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.41 and a fifty-two week high of $63.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09 and a beta of 1.08.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 34.24%.Copart’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 25,137 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.17, for a total transaction of $1,009,753.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,248,314.90. The trade was a 30.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 100,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.07, for a total transaction of $3,907,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Copart Profile

Copart (NASDAQ: CPRT) is a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services, focused primarily on the sale of salvage and clean-title vehicles. The company operates a technology-driven auction platform that connects sellers — including insurance companies, vehicle finance firms, rental car companies, dealerships and fleet owners — with a broad buyer base consisting of vehicle dismantlers, recyclers, rebuilders and retail buyers. Copart’s business model centers on efficient vehicle disposition using digital bidding and logistics services to maximize recovery value for its clients.

Core services include hosting live and timed online auctions, vehicle listing and inspection support, title processing, and transportation and storage solutions.