12,987 Shares in Copart, Inc. $CPRT Acquired by Clearline Capital LP

Key Points

• Clearline Capital LP acquired a new stake in Copart, Inc., purchasing 12,987 shares valued at approximately $735,000.
• Several large investors adjusted their holdings in Copart during the first quarter, including Vanguard Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., contributing to institutional ownership of 85.78% in the company.
• Copart reported $0.41 earnings per share for the latest quarter, exceeding expectations, while its revenue of $1.13 billion was slightly below projections.

Clearline Capital LP purchased a new stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 12,987 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $735,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CPRT. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Copart during the 1st quarter worth $267,723,000. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in Copart by 195.6% during the 1st quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,992,610 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $225,942,000 after buying an additional 2,642,100 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Copart by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 9,380,026 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $531,256,000 after buying an additional 2,299,192 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $5,900,295,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,345,768 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $868,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106,656 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Copart news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 $1,463,798.61. This trade represents a 43.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 9.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CPRT shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Copart from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. HSBC set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Copart and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Copart Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Copart stock traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.40. 3,944,793 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,601,746. Copart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.05 and a twelve month high of $64.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.50.

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

Copart 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.