Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Lowers Stock Position in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. has reduced its stake in Copart, Inc. by 5.2%, now owning 326,257 shares worth $16 million as of the second quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and JPMorgan Chase, have increased their holdings in Copart during the first quarter, indicating ongoing strong interest in the stock.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed opinions on Copart, with ratings ranging from "strong-buy" to "hold," and an average target price set at $54.50.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 326,257 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 17,943 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Copart were worth $16,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $2,230,177,000 after buying an additional 1,249,687 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Copart by 7.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,490,237 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $537,052,000 after purchasing an additional 658,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Copart by 32.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 9,380,026 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $531,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299,192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on CPRT shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Copart from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Copart from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Copart in a report on Saturday, September 27th. HSBC set a $62.00 target price on shares of Copart and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 31,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,463,798.61. This represents a 43.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold 228,840 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.54, for a total transaction of $10,879,053.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Copart Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ CPRT opened at $45.11 on Friday. Copart, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.23 and a 52 week high of $64.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.19 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.62.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.04. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Copart 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.