Citigroup Inc. Acquires 176,082 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Copart, Inc. by 17.2%, acquiring an additional 176,082 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately $67.91 million.
• Institutional investors control 85.78% of Copart's stock, indicating strong interest from large financial entities.
• Recent analyst reports have revised down share price targets for Copart, with Robert W. Baird and JPMorgan Chase lowering their price objectives to $55.00.

Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 17.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,200,059 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 176,082 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.12% of Copart worth $67,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in Copart during the 1st quarter valued at $300,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Copart by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,741,951 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $98,577,000 after purchasing an additional 202,144 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Copart by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,456,112 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $308,761,000 after purchasing an additional 829,381 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Copart by 32.6% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 8,712 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 2,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Copart by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,742,226 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $324,954,000 after purchasing an additional 248,553 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Copart news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total value of $1,118,405.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at $1,463,798.61. The trade was a 43.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Copart in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock.

Copart Price Performance

NASDAQ CPRT opened at $46.19 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.39 and a beta of 1.04. Copart, Inc. has a one year low of $45.05 and a one year high of $64.38. The business's fifty day moving average is $47.88 and its 200-day moving average is $54.21.

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

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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