Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Stake in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,982,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,918,610 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Copart were worth $860,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CPRT. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Copart by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,402,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $250,657,000 after buying an additional 1,575,173 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp increased its position in Copart by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 7,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Copart by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 915,183 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,829,000 after purchasing an additional 213,607 shares in the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Copart by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 23,632 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $925,000 after purchasing an additional 5,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas lifted its position in shares of Copart by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 61,267 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,401,000 after purchasing an additional 6,248 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Copart

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 26,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.18, for a total transaction of $869,747.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 79,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,638,871.76. This represents a 24.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 9.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CPRT shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Copart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $32.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Copart in a report on Monday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Copart from $45.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $45.00 price target on Copart in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $48.00 price objective on Copart and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Copart has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.50.

Copart Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of CPRT opened at $30.35 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.67. Copart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.97 and a twelve month high of $51.01. The company has a market cap of $28.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 1.00.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The business services provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 33.48%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.58 EPS 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.