Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Buys 111,952 Shares of Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 595.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,740 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 111,952 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Copart were worth $6,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Copart in the 1st quarter worth about $267,723,000. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in Copart by 75.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 7,000,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,511,000 after purchasing an additional 3,007,820 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Copart by 56.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,407,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $314,415,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310,067 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Copart by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 9,380,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $531,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Copart by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,408,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,221,483,000 after buying an additional 2,144,946 shares during the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of Copart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $1,087,635.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,403,360.28. The trade was a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.07, for a total value of $3,907,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 353,123 shares of company stock valued at $15,873,689 in the last ninety days. 9.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Copart Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Copart stock opened at $38.75 on Thursday. Copart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.67 and a twelve month high of $64.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.27 and its 200 day moving average is $47.40. The company has a market cap of $37.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.22 and a beta of 1.06.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The business services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CPRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $33.00 target price (up from $32.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Stephens reduced their target price on Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Copart from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Copart currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.60.

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.