Smart Money Group LLC Boosts Stake in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Smart Money Group LLC raised its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 12.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,473 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,870 shares during the quarter. Smart Money Group LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 6,817 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in Copart by 18.9% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 10,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Copart by 13.7% during the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Copart by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 17,951 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Copart by 51.3% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 829 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $1,087,635.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,403,360.28. The trade was a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total transaction of $10,879,053.60. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Copart Price Performance

CPRT opened at $39.98 on Friday. Copart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.58 and a 12-month high of $64.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $45.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.45.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.