Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts give Copart a “Moderate Buy” consensus: Four analysts rate the stock a buy and two a strong buy, versus two hold and two sell ratings. The average 12-month price target is $37.38, above the reported $31.04 share price.
• Copart’s latest quarterly revenue rose 2.4% year over year to $1.15 billion, slightly exceeding estimates, but earnings of $0.35 per share fell short of the $0.38 consensus.
• The stock has declined 2.2% and trades near its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Institutional investors own 85.78% of shares, while CEO Jeffrey Liaw recently sold 27,745 shares.

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the ten research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.3750.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CPRT. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Copart from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $40.00 target price on Copart in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Freedom Broker reduced their target price on Copart from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barrington Research upgraded Copart from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $45.00 price objective on Copart in a research report on Friday, May 22nd.

Copart Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of Copart stock opened at $31.04 on Wednesday. Copart has a 12-month low of $26.81 and a 12-month high of $47.63. The company has a market capitalization of $28.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.03. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $30.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.99.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The business services provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Copart had a net margin of 31.81% and a return on equity of 15.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Copart's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Copart will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Copart

In other Copart news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 27,745 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.49, for a total transaction of $845,945.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 99,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,038,054.09. The trade was a 21.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 9.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Copart

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Copart by 58.6% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 27,943 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 10,330 shares during the last quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Copart by 14,062.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Copart by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 28,547 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $805,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its position in Copart by 5.0% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,508,427 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $42,523,000 after buying an additional 71,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in Copart by 11.6% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 540,194 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,228,000 after buying an additional 56,237 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Copart

Copart, Inc NASDAQ: CPRT provides online vehicle auction and remarketing services. The company operates a global marketplace where damaged, recovered, used and other vehicles are sold primarily through online auctions. Its offerings include salvage and clean-title vehicles, with inventory sourced from insurance companies, banks, dealerships, fleet operators, rental companies, government agencies and other organizations.

Copart supports the vehicle remarketing process through inspection, storage, transportation, title processing and auction services.

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