Copart, Inc. $CPRT Shares Acquired by Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.

Key Points

• Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in Copart, Inc. by 3.3% during Q2, owning a total of 263,037 shares valued at approximately $12.9 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and JPMorgan Chase, have also raised their holdings in Copart, with institutional ownership now totaling 85.78%.
• Wall Street analysts generally view Copart positively, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a target price of $54.50 following positive quarterly earnings that exceeded estimates.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 263,037 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,508 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.'s holdings in Copart were worth $12,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,134,890 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Copart by 3.3% in 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 buying an additional 1,249,687 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,106,656 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Copart by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,490,237 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $537,052,000 after buying an additional 658,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Copart by 32.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 9,380,026 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $531,256,000 after buying an additional 2,299,192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CPRT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res raised Copart from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. HSBC set a $62.00 target price on Copart and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Stephens reduced their target price on Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Copart in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of CPRT opened at $44.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $46.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.74. The company has a market capitalization of $43.32 billion, a PE ratio of 27.98 and a beta of 1.03. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.32 and a fifty-two week high of $64.38.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total transaction of $10,879,053.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,283 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $1,087,635.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,403,360.28. The trade was a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

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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