Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) Earns "Hold (C)" Rating from Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reaffirmed a "Hold (C)" rating for Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT), indicating a cautious stance on the stock.
• Analysts have varied price targets for Copart, with Robert W. Baird lowering it from $64 to $55, while HSBC set a price target of $62 with a "buy" rating.
• Insider trading activity included CEO Jeffrey Liaw selling over 24,000 shares, representing a 43.31% decrease in his position in the company.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c)" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

CPRT has been the topic of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Stephens cut their price target on Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. HSBC set a $62.00 price target on Copart and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Copart from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Copart presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.50.

Copart Price Performance

CPRT traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.93. 5,393,726 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,609,631. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $46.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08 and a beta of 1.03. Copart has a 52 week low of $44.12 and a 52 week high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.04. Copart had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 33.41%.The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Copart will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total transaction of $1,118,405.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,463,798.61. This represents a 43.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total value of $10,879,053.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Copart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Copart by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,408,868 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,221,483,000 after acquiring an additional 2,144,946 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Copart by 3.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,409,377 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,230,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249,687 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Copart by 3.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,406,503 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,786,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167,265 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Copart by 3.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,462,076 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $999,305,000 after purchasing an additional 656,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Copart by 15.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,345,768 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $868,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,106,656 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Copart

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.

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