Copart, Inc. $CPRT Holdings Lowered by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its position in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 97.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,069,878 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $776,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Copart during the 2nd quarter worth $1,908,980,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Copart in the second quarter worth about $488,663,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Copart in the second quarter worth about $436,413,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Copart by 28.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,706,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $322,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Copart by 97.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,059,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $255,381,000 after acquiring an additional 4,482,226 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, Director Diane Morefield sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.66, for a total transaction of $553,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,000. This represents a 28.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 9.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CPRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up from $40.00) on shares of Copart in a report on Monday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Copart in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Copart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Freedom Broker dropped their price target on Copart from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, HSBC cut Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $46.00 to $36.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Copart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.90.

Copart Stock Performance

Copart stock opened at $32.30 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.13. Copart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.72 and a 1 year high of $42.05. The company has a market capitalization of $29.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.01.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 10th. The business services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Copart had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 31.81%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Copart, Inc. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

About Copart

Copart, Inc. operates an online vehicle auction and remarketing business. Its platform connects sellers with buyers of used and damaged vehicles, including cars, trucks, motorcycles and other equipment. The company serves insurance companies, vehicle dealers, rental and fleet operators, financial institutions and other businesses, as well as individual buyers. Its services include online auctions, vehicle storage, title processing and support with vehicle transportation. Founded in 1982 by Willis Johnson, Copart has expanded from its origins in the United States to serve customers in multiple countries, including markets in North America, Europe and the Middle East.