American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 1,494,457 Shares of Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Copart, Inc. by 63.9%, acquiring an additional 1,494,457 shares to own a total of 3,832,465 shares, valued at approximately $216.88 million.
• Copart's quarterly earnings results showed an EPS of $0.42, with a revenue of $1.21 billion, reflecting a 7.5% year-over-year increase.
• Insider activity included CEO Jeffrey Liaw selling 24,088 shares at an average price of $46.43, reducing his ownership by 43.31%.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 63.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,832,465 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,494,457 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.40% of Copart worth $216,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in shares of Copart by 289.6% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 34,322 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,970,000 after acquiring an additional 25,512 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Copart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $604,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Copart by 52.2% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 23,862 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,350,000 after purchasing an additional 8,181 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Copart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,314,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Copart by 53.3% during the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 854,336 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $48,347,000 after purchasing an additional 297,210 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total transaction of $1,118,405.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,463,798.61. The trade was a 43.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

Copart Trading Up 1.0%

CPRT stock traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.81. The stock had a trading volume of 5,603,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,685,563. Copart, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.05 and a 52 week high of $64.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.75.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Copart had a net margin of 32.21% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CPRT. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Copart in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.33.

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.