HMS Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• HMS Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Copart, Inc. by 19.9%, selling 5,429 shares during the 2nd quarter, resulting in total holdings worth $1,073,000.
• Copart's latest quarterly earnings exceeded analysts' expectations, reporting $0.41 EPS against a forecast of $0.37, along with a revenue of $1.13 billion.
• Analyst ratings for Copart include one "Strong Buy," two "Buy," and three "Hold," with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.50.

HMS Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 19.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,857 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,429 shares during the period. HMS Capital Management LLC's holdings in Copart were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 2,134,890 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Copart by 3.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,249,687 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 15.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,106,656 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted 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 worth $537,052,000 after buying an additional 658,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Copart by 32.5% during the first 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 last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other Copart news, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total value of $10,879,053.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,463,798.61. The trade was a 43.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on CPRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Copart from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. HSBC set a $62.00 price target on shares of Copart and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.50.

Copart Stock Performance

Shares of CPRT traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $45.76. 4,769,067 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,875,544. Copart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.05 and a 52-week high of $64.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.26. The firm has a market cap of $44.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.59 and a beta of 1.03.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 18.17% and a net margin of 33.41%.Copart's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Copart Company 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.