37,171 Shares in Copart, Inc. $CPRT Purchased by Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.

Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 37,171 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,672,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Copart in the second quarter valued at about $549,448,000. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in Copart by 75.3% during the second 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 period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Copart by 75.2% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,579,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $322,851,000 after buying an additional 2,824,991 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Copart by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,408,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,221,483,000 after buying an additional 2,144,946 shares during the period. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Copart by 39.4% in the second quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,315,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $260,849,000 after buying an additional 1,503,771 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CPRT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, CJS Securities upgraded shares of Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Copart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.60.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other Copart news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 25,137 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.17, for a total value of $1,009,753.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,248,314.90. The trade was a 30.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.07, for a total value of $3,907,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Performance

Copart stock opened at $40.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $39.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.05. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.41 and a fifty-two week high of $63.85.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 34.24%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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.