Allstate Corp Purchases New Shares in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 34,470 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 92.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 6,817 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Copart by 365.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 878 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Copart by 15.3% in the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 21,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 2,830 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Copart by 346.5% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,088 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,427,000 after acquiring an additional 22,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Copart by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 11,573 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CPRT opened at $40.71 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.69. Copart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.41 and a 1 year high of $63.85. The firm has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.82 and a beta of 1.10.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Copart had a net margin of 34.24% and a return on equity of 17.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.07, for a total transaction of $3,907,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 25,137 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.17, for a total value of $1,009,753.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,248,314.90. This represents a 30.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 9.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CPRT has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. CJS Securities raised Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Copart from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $33.00 price target (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Copart in a report on Friday, November 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.60.

Copart Company Profile

Copart (NASDAQ: CPRT) is a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services, focused primarily on the sale of salvage and clean-title vehicles. The company operates a technology-driven auction platform that connects sellers — including insurance companies, vehicle finance firms, rental car companies, dealerships and fleet owners — with a broad buyer base consisting of vehicle dismantlers, recyclers, rebuilders and retail buyers. Copart’s business model centers on efficient vehicle disposition using digital bidding and logistics services to maximize recovery value for its clients.

Core services include hosting live and timed online auctions, vehicle listing and inspection support, title processing, and transportation and storage solutions.