First Manhattan CO. LLC. Acquires 761,444 Shares of Copart, Inc. $CPRT

First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its holdings in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,732,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 761,444 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned approximately 0.49% of Copart worth $185,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Copart in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Copart in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Copart in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Copart in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management increased its holdings in Copart by 424.2% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 1,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CPRT. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Copart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Copart from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Copart from $45.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $32.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Copart in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Copart and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Copart currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Copart Price Performance

NASDAQ CPRT opened at $29.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $27.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $32.67 and its 200-day moving average is $36.00. Copart, Inc. has a one year low of $29.50 and a one year high of $50.11.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The business services provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 33.48%.Copart’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Copart

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 26,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.18, for a total transaction of $869,747.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 79,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,638,871.76. This trade represents a 24.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Copart Profile

Copart (NASDAQ: CPRT) is a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services, focused primarily on the sale of salvage and clean-title vehicles. The company operates a technology-driven auction platform that connects sellers — including insurance companies, vehicle finance firms, rental car companies, dealerships and fleet owners — with a broad buyer base consisting of vehicle dismantlers, recyclers, rebuilders and retail buyers. Copart’s business model centers on efficient vehicle disposition using digital bidding and logistics services to maximize recovery value for its clients.

Core services include hosting live and timed online auctions, vehicle listing and inspection support, title processing, and transportation and storage solutions.