Harfst & Associates Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• Harfst & Associates Inc. significantly increased its position in Copart, Inc. by 256.6%, owning 15,512 shares, valued at approximately $878,000.
• Recent analyst actions include Robert W. Baird lowering Copart's price target from $64 to $55, while JPMorgan also reduced its target to $55 with a "neutral" rating.
• Copart's CEO, Jeffrey Liaw, sold 24,088 shares at an average price of $46.43, which decreased his ownership by 43.31%.

Harfst & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 256.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,512 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,162 shares during the period. Harfst & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Copart were worth $878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Copart by 2.1% during the first 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Copart by 3.3% during the first 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 during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in Copart by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,353,932 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,225,502,000 after buying an additional 169,354 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Copart by 15.9% during the first 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 during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Copart by 7.5% during the first 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 during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CPRT. Stephens began coverage on shares of Copart in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Copart has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.33.

Copart Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:CPRT traded up $0.2450 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $47.6050. 2,145,980 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,662,320. The business's fifty day moving average is $47.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.75. Copart, Inc. has a one year low of $45.05 and a one year high of $64.38. The stock has a market cap of $46.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Copart

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate 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.