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

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.40.

CPRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Copart from $45.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $32.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird set a $48.00 target price on shares of Copart and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, CJS Securities upgraded shares of Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th.

Copart Stock Up 2.5%

Copart stock opened at $38.09 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.23. Copart has a twelve month low of $33.81 and a twelve month high of $63.85. The company has a market cap of $36.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81 and a beta of 1.08.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The business services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.03). Copart had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 16.68%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Copart will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 25,137 shares of the 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 sale, 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. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Copart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Copart by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,990,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,901,310,000 after buying an additional 2,581,784 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Copart by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 40,175,058 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,806,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,101 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Copart by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,555,437 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,470,295,000 after acquiring an additional 492,506 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Copart by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 27,728,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,588,000 after acquiring an additional 5,555,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,255,161 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $906,836,000 after purchasing an additional 131,703 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

About Copart

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.