Cibc World Markets Corp Acquires 19,831 Shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its stake in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,204 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,831 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Copart were worth $9,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Copart in the 4th quarter valued at about $253,686,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Copart by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,440,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,664,000 after purchasing an additional 3,667,534 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew 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 worth $149,471,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084,626 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Copart during the 4th quarter worth $69,162,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Copart by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 7,080,834 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $402,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090,841 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CPRT. Argus downgraded Copart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Copart from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Insider Transactions at Copart

In other Copart news, Director Diane M. Morefield sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,200. This trade represents a 60.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $2,883,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 315,480 shares of company stock valued at $18,007,983 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 9.68% of the company’s stock.

Copart Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CPRT opened at $52.92 on Wednesday. Copart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.05 and a 12-month high of $64.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.13 billion, a PE ratio of 35.52 and a beta of 1.30.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Copart had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 32.27%. On average, equities analysts predict 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.