Petrus Trust Company LTA Makes New $994,000 Investment in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• Petrus Trust Company LTA acquired 17,563 shares of Copart, Inc. worth approximately $994,000 in the first quarter of 2023.
• CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares at an average price of $46.43, significantly reducing his ownership in the company.
• Analysts are mixed on Copart's stock, with targets ranging from $46.00 to $62.00 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased a new stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,563 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $994,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $5,900,295,000 after buying an additional 2,134,890 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Copart by 3.3% during 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 buying an additional 1,249,687 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Copart by 15.9% during 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 658,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,299,192 shares during the last quarter. 85.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Copart

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 24,088 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total transaction of $1,118,405.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at $1,463,798.61. The trade was a 43.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 9.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CPRT. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on 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. 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. Hsbc Global Res raised 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 Copart and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price target on Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One 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, Copart has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.50.

Copart Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ CPRT traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $48.65. The company had a trading volume of 642,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,797,740. Copart, Inc. has a one year low of $45.05 and a one year high of $64.38. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $47.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.67. The stock has a market cap of $47.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42 and a beta of 1.03.

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