Public Sector Pension Investment Board Purchases 9,486 Shares of Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Copart, Inc. by 8.5%, owning 120,576 shares valued at approximately $6.82 million.
• CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold over 24,000 shares, marking a 43.31% decrease in his ownership of the stock.
• Recent analyst reports have set target prices for Copart between $50.00 and $55.00, reflecting varied expectations about the company’s future performance.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 8.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 120,576 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 9,486 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Copart were worth $6,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Copart during the first quarter worth $267,723,000. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Copart by 195.6% during the first quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,992,610 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $225,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642,100 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Copart by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,263,922 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,900,295,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,890 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Copart by 15.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,345,768 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $868,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106,656 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 worth $2,230,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249,687 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total transaction of $1,118,405.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at $1,463,798.61. This represents a 43.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CPRT shares. Stephens started coverage on Copart in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Copart presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.33.

Copart Trading Up 1.0%

CPRT stock traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.81. The stock had a trading volume of 5,603,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,685,563. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.05 and a 1-year high of $64.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $47.49 and a 200 day moving average of $53.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45 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 the consensus estimate of $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.