Ascent Group LLC Grows Stake in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 9.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,279 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 382 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Copart during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Copart during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Copart during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Copart during the first quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Copart by 152.6% during the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 783 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. HSBC set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Copart and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Copart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Insider Transactions at Copart

In related news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total transaction of $10,879,053.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total transaction of $1,118,405.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at $1,463,798.61. The trade was a 43.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Performance

Copart stock opened at $44.93 on Thursday. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $64.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $46.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.48 billion, a PE ratio of 28.08 and a beta of 1.03.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Copart Company 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.