Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 8,801 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 6.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 136,333 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,801 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Copart were worth $7,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CPRT. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Copart by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,747 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank raised its stake in Copart by 59.5% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 472 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Copart by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,007 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Copart by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 75,170 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,314,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simmons Bank raised its stake in Copart by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 4,728 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CPRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus downgraded Copart from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Copart from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd.

Copart Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ CPRT traded down $0.24 during trading on Thursday, hitting $50.14. 6,126,605 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,665,517. The company has a market cap of $48.44 billion, a PE ratio of 33.65 and a beta of 1.10. Copart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.05 and a fifty-two week high of $64.38. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $58.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.96.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 32.27%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Copart news, Director James E. Meeks sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $5,400,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven D. Cohan sold 94,997 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $5,700,769.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 200,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,401,000. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.