Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Acquires 1,575,173 Shares of Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 32.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,402,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,575,173 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Copart were worth $250,657,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 2.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,990,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,901,310,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581,784 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,062,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,666,720,000 after acquiring an additional 656,428 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,255,161 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $906,836,000 after acquiring an additional 131,703 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Copart during the fourth quarter worth approximately $569,569,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 7.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,931,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $491,606,000 after acquiring an additional 771,573 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CPRT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $45.00 price target on Copart in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $32.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut Copart from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Copart from $45.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Copart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $30.96 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.03 and a 200-day moving average of $36.55. The company has a market capitalization of $28.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23 and a beta of 1.00. Copart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.97 and a 52-week high of $50.92.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The business services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. Copart had a net margin of 33.48% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 26,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.18, for a total transaction of $869,747.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 79,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,638,871.76. This represents a 24.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Copart Company Profile

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.