Dark Forest Capital Management LP Grows Stake in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• Dark Forest Capital Management LP significantly increased its stake in Copart, Inc. by 395.6%, acquiring an additional 62,861 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to 78,751 shares worth approximately $4.46 million.
• Major institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co., also raised their holdings in Copart, indicative of strong investor interest, with 85.78% of the stock owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Recent analyst reports have adjusted Copart's price targets, with JPMorgan reducing its target from $60 to $55 and maintaining a "neutral" rating, contributing to a consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $53.33.

Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 395.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 78,751 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 62,861 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP's holdings in Copart were worth $4,457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Copart in the first quarter valued at $267,723,000. Fiera Capital Corp raised its stake in shares of Copart by 195.6% in the first quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,992,610 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $225,942,000 after buying an additional 2,642,100 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Copart by 2.1% during 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 valued at $868,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106,656 shares during the period. Finally, Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Copart during the 1st quarter valued at $87,903,000. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CPRT shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Copart from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective 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 decreased their price objective on Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, HSBC set a $62.00 price objective on Copart and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,463,798.61. This represents a 43.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

Copart Price Performance

NASDAQ CPRT traded down $1.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,581,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,525,177. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.96 billion, a PE ratio of 30.36 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.47 and a 200 day moving average of $52.81. Copart, Inc. has a one year low of $45.05 and a one year high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.04. Copart had a return on equity of 18.65% and a net margin of 33.41%.The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research 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.