Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Stock Position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 387.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 771,178 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 612,961 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 0.08% of Copart worth $44,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Copart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $682,089,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Copart in the 4th quarter worth $253,686,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Copart by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,440,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,664,000 after acquiring an additional 3,667,534 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Copart by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 23,463,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,346,548,000 after acquiring an additional 2,907,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $149,471,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084,626 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Copart Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Copart stock opened at $54.59 on Wednesday. Copart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.05 and a 12-month high of $64.38. The company has a market cap of $52.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.64 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.48.

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

Insider Transactions at Copart

In related news, Director James E. Meeks sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

About Copart

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.