Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Stock Rated "Moderate Buy" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Copart, with five buy, two strong-buy, four hold, and two sell ratings; the average 12-month price target is $37.90.
• Copart’s latest quarterly revenue of $1.15 billion topped estimates and rose 2.4% year over year, but EPS of $0.35 missed the $0.38 consensus and was below the prior-year $0.41.
• Shares were reported up 5% in Thursday trading, opening at $32.62.

Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.90.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Copart from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $43.00 target price (up from $40.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Barrington Research upgraded shares of Copart from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Barclays set a $25.00 price target on shares of Copart and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Copart in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th.

Copart Trading Up 5.0%

CPRT stock opened at $32.62 on Thursday. Copart has a twelve month low of $25.72 and a twelve month high of $42.95. The company has a market capitalization of $30.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.05, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.31.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The business services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Copart will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Copart

In other Copart news, Director Diane Morefield sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.66, for a total transaction of $553,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,383,000. This trade represents a 28.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Copart by 30.3% during the third quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 402,332 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $10,976,000 after acquiring an additional 93,556 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 9,291 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 645 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 8,711.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 55,333 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,502,000 after acquiring an additional 54,705 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 123.5% in the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 74,833 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,049,000 after acquiring an additional 41,356 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Copart by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 762,518 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $20,801,000 after purchasing an additional 226,318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Copart Company Profile

Copart, Inc is a provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services. The company operates a digital marketplace that connects vehicle sellers with a broad network of buyers, including licensed dismantlers, rebuilders, used-car dealers, exporters and individual consumers.

Copart primarily sells vehicles that have been damaged, declared total losses by insurers, repossessed, donated or otherwise designated for resale. Its services also include vehicle storage, transportation, towing coordination, title processing, inspection and auction support.

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