Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $11.41 Million Stock Holdings in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 232,556 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,900 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Copart were worth $11,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Copart by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,263,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,900,295,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,890 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Copart by 3.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,409,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,230,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249,687 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Copart by 15.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,345,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $868,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106,656 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Copart by 7.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,490,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $537,052,000 after buying an additional 658,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Copart by 32.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 9,380,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $531,256,000 after buying an additional 2,299,192 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $1,087,635.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,403,360.28. This represents a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total transaction of $10,879,053.60. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Copart and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Copart Price Performance

CPRT opened at $44.07 on Wednesday. Copart, Inc. has a one year low of $43.32 and a one year high of $64.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.54 and a beta of 1.03.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. Copart’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

About Copart

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.