Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Buys 821,074 Shares of Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Copart, Inc. by 24.8%, owning approximately 4.1 million shares valued at $233.68 million as of the latest quarter.
• CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares on July 15, representing a 43.31% decrease in his ownership, with a total sale value of $1.12 million.
• As of now, the stock has a market cap of $46.48 billion, with shares down 1.4% and a current price-to-earnings ratio of 30.04.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 24.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,129,285 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 821,074 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.43% of Copart worth $233,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Copart during the 1st quarter worth about $267,723,000. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings 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 period. Amundi raised its holdings 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 period. 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 during the period. 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of Copart stock traded down $0.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $48.40. The company had a trading volume of 3,944,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,601,746. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $47.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.50. The stock has a market cap of $46.80 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25 and a beta of 1.03. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.05 and a 1-year high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 18.17%. Copart's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 31,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,463,798.61. This represents a 43.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

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.