Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 597,756 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Copart, Inc. by 52.9% in the first quarter, obtaining a total of approximately 1.73 million shares worth $97.7 million.
• Copart's recent quarterly earnings met expectations with $0.42 earnings per share and revenue of $1.21 billion, reflecting a 7.5% year-over-year growth.
• Insider selling occurred as CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold over 24,000 shares, decreasing his position by 43.31%, now holding approximately $1.46 million worth of stock.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 52.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,728,776 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 597,756 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.18% of Copart worth $97,745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Copart by 2.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,134,890 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $2,230,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249,687 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,353,932 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,225,502,000 after acquiring an additional 169,354 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,345,768 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $868,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,106,656 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,490,237 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $537,052,000 after acquiring an additional 658,329 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Copart in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $50.00 price target for the company.

Copart Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CPRT traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.08. 4,688,357 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,882,411. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $47.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.88. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.05 and a fifty-two week high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.23 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 32.21%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Copart news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of Copart stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 31,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,463,798.61. The trade was a 43.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 9.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Copart

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.