Copart, Inc. $CPRT Position Boosted by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 104.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,784,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,471,607 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Copart were worth $185,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Copart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,908,980,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Copart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $488,663,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Copart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $436,413,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Copart by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,706,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $322,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,165,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Copart by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,059,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $255,381,000 after purchasing an additional 4,482,226 shares during the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CPRT shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Copart from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Freedom Broker dropped their price target on Copart from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Zacks Research raised Copart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Copart in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.80.

Copart Price Performance

Copart stock opened at $27.75 on Friday. Copart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.72 and a 12-month high of $45.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $30.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.84.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The business services provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 31.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 27,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.49, for a total transaction of $845,945.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 99,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,038,054.09. This represents a 21.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

About Copart

Copart, Inc is a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services. The company primarily sells vehicles that have been damaged, totaled, recovered from theft, or otherwise deemed uneconomical to repair. Its customers include insurance companies, automobile dealers, dismantlers, rebuilders, exporters, rental and finance companies, and members of the general public.

Copart conducts auctions through its online VB3 platform, which connects buyers with vehicles listed at the company’s facilities.