Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $47.60.

A number of research firms have weighed in on CPRT. HSBC set a $62.00 target price on shares of Copart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Copart from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $32.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Friday, November 21st.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of Copart stock opened at $38.67 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.58 and a beta of 1.12. Copart has a 52 week low of $38.18 and a 52 week high of $63.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.57.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. Copart had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 34.24%.The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Copart will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $1,087,635.57. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,403,360.28. This represents a 43.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.07, for a total value of $3,907,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Copart

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC acquired a new position in shares of Copart in the second quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 6.7% during the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 167,910 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,239,000 after purchasing an additional 10,559 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Copart by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 753,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,153,000 after buying an additional 25,564 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its stake in Copart by 71.8% in the 2nd quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 127,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,234,000 after buying an additional 53,099 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Copart in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,467,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% 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.