Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $55.00. The stock had previously closed at $60.66, but opened at $57.44. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Copart shares last traded at $54.62, with a volume of 4,173,180 shares traded.

Separately, Argus downgraded shares of Copart from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In related news, Director James E. Meeks sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $5,400,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven D. Cohan sold 5,003 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $300,230.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 200,000 shares of company stock worth $11,401,000 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Copart by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,263,922 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,900,295,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,890 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $2,230,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249,687 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its holdings in Copart by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 23,463,118 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,346,548,000 after buying an additional 2,907,405 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Copart by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,353,932 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,225,502,000 after acquiring an additional 169,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Copart by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,440,046 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,115,664,000 after purchasing an additional 3,667,534 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Copart Price Performance

The business's 50-day moving average price is $58.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.22. The company has a market capitalization of $50.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05 and a beta of 1.20.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Copart had a net margin of 32.27% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Research analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.