Howard Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 17.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,910 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,520 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Copart were worth $1,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Copart in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $267,723,000. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in Copart by 195.6% in the first quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,992,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $225,942,000 after acquiring an additional 2,642,100 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Copart by 56.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,407,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $314,415,000 after acquiring an additional 2,310,067 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in Copart by 32.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 9,380,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $531,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,299,192 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 2,134,890 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of CPRT opened at $44.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.65 billion, a PE ratio of 27.54 and a beta of 1.03. Copart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.32 and a 1 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.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CPRT. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. HSBC set a $62.00 target price on shares of Copart and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.