Maren Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Maren Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 13.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,204,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 141,403 shares during the period. Copart makes up about 4.6% of Maren Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Maren Capital LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $68,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 92.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 6,817 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,751,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $157,958,000 after purchasing an additional 81,971 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 4,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 14,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $851,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syon Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 6,464 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,421 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CPRT. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Stephens began coverage on Copart in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total transaction of $1,118,405.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at $1,463,798.61. This represents a 43.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 9.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of CPRT stock opened at $48.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.21 and a beta of 1.04. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.05 and a 1-year high of $64.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $47.34 and a 200 day moving average of $53.53.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 32.21%.Copart’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Copart Company Profile

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.