Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $44.40.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CPRT shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Copart in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. CJS Securities upgraded shares of Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $48.00 target price on shares of Copart and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $32.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Copart in a report on Monday, February 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 25,137 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.17, for a total value of $1,009,753.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,248,314.90. The trade was a 30.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,311,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $129,585,000 after purchasing an additional 361,417 shares during the last quarter. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new position in Copart during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Tobam increased its position in Copart by 1,556.1% during the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 22,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $869,000 after buying an additional 20,852 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Copart by 564.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,523,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $98,806,000 after buying an additional 2,144,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copos Capital S.a r.l. purchased a new stake in Copart in the fourth quarter valued at about $459,000. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CPRT opened at $32.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.27 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.28. Copart has a 52-week low of $32.20 and a 52-week high of $63.85.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The business services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 33.76%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Copart will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

About Copart

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.