Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 109,000 Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 109,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Copart during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Cache Advisors LLC bought a new position in Copart in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Copart in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Copart in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Copart during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Copart Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Copart stock opened at $30.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.29 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $32.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.59. Copart, Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.41 and a 12 month high of $50.11.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The business services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 33.48%.Copart’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 26,213 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.18, for a total value of $869,747.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 79,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,638,871.76. The trade was a 24.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CPRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Copart from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $45.00 target price on shares of Copart in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Copart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Copart currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Copart 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.