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

Key Points

• Copart's stock has been reaffirmed with a "hold (C)" rating by Weiss Ratings, while several other brokerages have issued varied ratings and price targets for the stock.
• The company reported earnings of $0.41 EPS for the recent quarter, exceeding consensus estimates, and generated revenue of $1.13 billion, which was slightly below expectations.
• Insider selling activity was noted, with Director Thomas N. Tryforos selling 228,840 shares, while 85.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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

Several other brokerages have also commented on CPRT. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Stephens dropped their price objective on Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 5th. HSBC set a $62.00 target price on Copart and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Copart presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.50.

Copart Stock Performance

NASDAQ CPRT traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $44.66. 3,590,341 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,022,338. The business's 50 day moving average is $46.39 and its 200-day moving average is $50.53. Copart has a 12-month low of $43.32 and a 12-month high of $64.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.91 and a beta of 1.03.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.14 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 33.41%.The firm's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Copart will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total transaction of $10,879,053.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $1,087,635.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,403,360.28. This represents a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Copart

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPRT. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Copart during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Copart during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Copart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Copart by 1,063.0% in the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 628 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Copart in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 85.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Copart Company Profile

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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