Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) Shares Purchased by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,671,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 889,989 shares during the quarter. Copart accounts for approximately 0.9% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Copart were worth $382,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Copart in the 4th quarter valued at $253,686,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Copart by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,440,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,115,664,000 after buying an additional 3,667,534 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Copart by 335.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,705,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,471,000 after buying an additional 2,084,626 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Copart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,162,000. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Copart by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 7,080,834 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $402,332,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090,841 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Copart news, Director Matt Blunt sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.66, for a total value of $2,883,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Diane M. Morefield sold 30,000 shares of Copart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.01, for a total value of $1,740,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,160,200. This represents a 60.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 315,480 shares of company stock worth $18,007,983. Company insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on CPRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Argus lowered Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday.

Copart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CPRT opened at $52.65 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $50.86 billion, a PE ratio of 35.34 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.01. Copart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.05 and a 1-year high of $64.38.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. Copart had a net margin of 32.27% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Copart

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.