Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Lowers Stake in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Key Points

• Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA significantly reduced its stake in Copart, Inc. by 50.7% in Q2, now holding valued shares worth $577,000.
• Copart's CEO Jeffrey Liaw and Director Thomas N. Tryforos sold a combined total of over $12 million in shares, indicating potential insider confidence changes.
• Research analysts have lowered their price targets for Copart, with a consensus target price of $54.50 and mixed ratings from recent evaluations.

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA reduced its stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Free Report) by 50.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,966 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 12,315 shares during the quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA's holdings in Copart were worth $577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CPRT. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 92.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 6,817 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 87,613 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,028,000 after purchasing an additional 16,072 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 1,567.9% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 884 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 6,774.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,151,720 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $65,176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,966 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Copart by 12.0% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,332 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares during the period. 85.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 31,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,463,798.61. This represents a 43.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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. Corporate insiders own 9.68% of the company's stock.

Copart Stock Performance

CPRT stock opened at $44.96 on Wednesday. Copart, Inc. has a one year low of $44.23 and a one year high of $64.38. The firm has a market cap of $43.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.10 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.80.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 4th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CPRT. Robert W. Baird lowered 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. 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 objective on shares of Copart and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Copart from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $54.50.

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.

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