Insider Selling: Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) Director Sells $553,200.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Copart Director Diane Morefield sold 20,000 shares at an average price of $27.66, generating $553,200 and reducing her holdings by 28.57% to 50,000 shares.
• Copart shares fell 1.3% to $27.51, while the company’s latest quarterly results showed EPS of $0.35, below estimates, despite revenue of $1.15 billion exceeding forecasts and rising 2.4% year over year.
• Institutional investors own 85.78% of Copart, and analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $37.80.

Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) Director Diane Morefield sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.66, for a total transaction of $553,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,383,000. This represents a 28.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Copart Stock Down 1.3%

Copart stock traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $27.51. 15,039,325 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,283,243. The firm has a market cap of $25.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $30.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.80. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.72 and a 1-year high of $45.89.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The business services provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 31.81%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Copart, Inc. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Copart

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Copart in the second quarter worth approximately $1,908,980,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Copart in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $488,663,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Copart in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $436,413,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Copart by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,706,517 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $322,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Copart by 97.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,059,273 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $255,381,000 after purchasing an additional 4,482,226 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CPRT. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Copart from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Copart from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $32.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Copart in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Copart to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $40.00 price target on Copart in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Copart presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.80.

About Copart

Copart, Inc is a provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services. The company operates a digital marketplace that connects vehicle sellers with a broad network of buyers, including licensed dismantlers, rebuilders, used-car dealers, exporters and individual consumers.

Copart primarily sells vehicles that have been damaged, declared total losses by insurers, repossessed, donated or otherwise designated for resale. Its services also include vehicle storage, transportation, towing coordination, title processing, inspection and auction support.

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