Sterling Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 90.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 202,213 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Copart in the fourth quarter worth about $569,569,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Copart by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 27,728,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,588,000 after buying an additional 5,555,101 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in Copart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $195,637,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Copart by 94.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,955,661 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $389,764,000 after buying an additional 4,823,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Copart by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,982,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $860,618,000 after acquiring an additional 3,918,610 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Copart news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 26,213 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.18, for a total transaction of $869,747.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 79,532 shares in the company, valued at $2,638,871.76. The trade was a 24.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 9.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Copart Price Performance

NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $28.79 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.88 and a beta of 1.03. Copart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.84 and a 1 year high of $50.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.35.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Freedom Capital raised Copart to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Copart from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $45.00 price target on shares of Copart in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Copart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Copart Company 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.