Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) Lowered to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. CJS Securities raised shares of Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Copart from $45.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird set a $48.00 target price on Copart and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $32.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Copart in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.40.

Copart Trading Up 1.7%

CPRT stock opened at $35.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.33. The company has a market capitalization of $34.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43 and a beta of 1.08. Copart has a twelve month low of $33.81 and a twelve month high of $63.85.

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

Insider Activity at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 25,137 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.17, for a total transaction of $1,009,753.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,248,314.90. This represents a 30.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Copart

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Copart by 564.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,523,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $98,806,000 after purchasing an additional 2,144,147 shares in the last quarter. Copos Capital S.a r.l. acquired a new stake in Copart in the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Copart in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Compound Planning Inc. increased its stake in Copart by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 5,814 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Copart by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,586,115 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $453,596,000 after buying an additional 654,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

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.