Nomura Holdings Inc. Sells 79,635 Shares of Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• Nomura Holdings Inc. significantly reduced its stake in Copart, Inc. by 82.9%, after selling 79,635 shares, leaving it with only 16,378 shares valued at $927,000.
• Major institutional investors including Vanguard Group and JPMorgan Chase have increased their holdings in Copart, with Vanguard now owning 104.3 million shares worth approximately $5.9 billion.
• Despite the recent selling, the company is still closely watched by analysts, with an average target price of $53.33 and ratings that include one Buy and three Holds.

Nomura Holdings Inc. lessened its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 82.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,378 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 79,635 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Copart were worth $927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $5,900,295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,890 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Copart by 3.3% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 1,249,687 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 2,106,656 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Copart by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,490,237 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $537,052,000 after purchasing an additional 658,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Copart by 0.7% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,927,156 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $505,188,000 after buying an additional 61,855 shares in the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other Copart news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were 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 directly owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at $1,463,798.61. This trade represents a 43.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Copart Price Performance

NASDAQ:CPRT traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $48.33. The stock had a trading volume of 5,710,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,789,920. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $47.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.73. The company has a market capitalization of $46.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17 and a beta of 1.03. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.05 and a 1-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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Copart had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 18.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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.