Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 526.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,252 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Copart were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in Copart by 1,212.2% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 3,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 2,873 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Copart by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after buying an additional 1,079 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 52.1% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 10,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 3,707 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 286,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,998,000 after purchasing an additional 13,666 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,968,882 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,881,905,000 after purchasing an additional 270,867 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of CPRT stock opened at $56.55 on Friday. Copart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.78 and a 52-week high of $58.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.68 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $53.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.24.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). Copart had a return on equity of 21.55% and a net margin of 33.41%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. Copart’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Copart in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Copart currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Copart news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total transaction of $34,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 19,687,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,137,374,604.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Copart news, Chairman A Jayson Adair sold 600,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.77, for a total transaction of $34,662,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 19,687,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,137,374,604.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 285,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $15,751,950.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,450. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 985,000 shares of company stock valued at $55,519,950. Insiders own 10.23% of the company’s stock.

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.