Copart, Inc. $CPRT Shares Acquired by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. increased its stake in Copart, Inc. by 3.0%, owning 8,308,282 shares valued at approximately $470 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., also increased their stakes in Copart during the first quarter, with institutional ownership reaching 85.78%.
• CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of Copart stock, representing a 43.31% decrease in his holdings, while analysts have set a consensus target price of $53.33 for the stock.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,308,282 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 243,181 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.86% of Copart worth $470,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Copart by 2.1% during 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Copart by 3.3% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 1,249,687 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Copart by 15.9% during 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. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Copart by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,490,237 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $537,052,000 after purchasing an additional 658,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Copart by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,927,156 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $505,188,000 after purchasing an additional 61,855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total value of $1,118,405.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,463,798.61. This trade represents a 43.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CPRT shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Stephens began coverage on Copart in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Copart Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of CPRT opened at $48.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.21 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $47.34 and a 200-day moving average of $53.53. Copart, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.05 and a 52 week high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 32.21%.The business's revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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.

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