Analysts Set Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Target Price at $54.50

Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $54.50.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Copart in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. HSBC set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Copart and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $42.48 on Friday. Copart has a 52-week low of $42.26 and a 52-week high of $64.38. The company has a market capitalization of $41.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.07.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. Copart’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Copart will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other Copart news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the firm’s 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $1,087,635.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,403,360.28. This trade represents a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Copart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Copart by 92.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 6,817 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Copart by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,352 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,152,000 after acquiring an additional 3,598 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Copart by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 30,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Copart by 126.2% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Copart by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 3,625 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.