Aviva PLC Sells 285,310 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Aviva PLC lowered its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 25.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 818,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 285,310 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $46,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Copart during the fourth quarter worth about $682,089,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Copart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,686,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Copart by 23.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,440,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,115,664,000 after buying an additional 3,667,534 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Copart by 335.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,705,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,471,000 after buying an additional 2,084,626 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Copart by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,157,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $812,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,785,741 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Argus downgraded shares of Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Copart Price Performance

CPRT stock opened at $54.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.23 and a 200 day moving average of $56.42. The company has a market cap of $52.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.58 and a beta of 1.22. Copart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.05 and a 1 year high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 32.27%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Copart news, Director Daniel J. Englander sold 235,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.84, for a total transaction of $13,384,683.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James E. Meeks sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total value of $5,400,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

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.